Harry & Olivia Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by RangerManaInSnuggieWar
Summary: Another attempt at a Harry and twin sister story by me. When Harry and Olivia get to Hogwarts, what will be waiting for them? For lack of a better summary, I'm just going to say rated T in case. ON HIATUS
1. The Vanishing Glass

**A/N: Ok, this is a new Harry and twin sister story that I am attempting, this time with SlytherinGirl26 (aka Em), my best friend, as my co-writer. No more word-for-word except for articles and VERY long speeches. **

**Disclaimer: JKR? Nope, RedRoseMana for this chapter. Therefore, I don't own it.**

"Get up, you two!" a horrid voice screeched. I murmured something indistinguishable as I sat up and nudged my brother awake, hearing footsteps tread to the kitchen.

"Whassamatter?" he mumbled, his hair flying everywhere as he pushed himself up.

"Up, you lazy children!" Our aunt had obviously returned and she rapped sharply on the door.

"We're up!" Harry shouted.

"I want you two taking care of the bacon and eggs! And if you burn them, I'll skin you alive! Everything must be perfect on my Duddykins' special day!" I snorted as I reached for a hairbrush and Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" Geez, she has ears like a hawk's! I guess that's how she keeps up with all the latest gossip…

"Nothing!" Harry called back.

_Of course…dear Dudley's birthday…how on Earth could we have forgotten? _I thought as I picked out a pink blouse that clashed horribly with my hair.

_Um, maybe because it's Dudley? _Harry responded, making me snort. For some reason, Harry and I had a telepathic link and we didn't know why but it was awesome.

Harry plucked a spider off his socks and threw it down, making my squeak.

_Sorry_, he thought apologetically. I nodded; you'd think I'd be used to them by now, since Harry and I had to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs together, but I still don't like them.

After getting dressed in the cramped space (would it kill for the Dursleys to give us a proper room? We're _two_ ten-year-olds, for heaven's sake!), Harry and I trudged to the kitchen, where a frying pan full of bacon and a carton of eggs were waiting.

I'm Olivia Potter, Liv to my brother (and friends, if I actually had any, that is). I have pale skin and straight, dark red hair that reached my shoulders. Harry, on the other hand, had messy black hair, round glasses (taped, since Dudley took great pleasure in punching my brother) and almond-shaped, bright green eyes, a trait which I shared.

Another thing we shared was lightning-shaped scars; mine went from my left temple to the corner of my left eye and Harry's resided on his forehead.

"Auntie Petunia, where did Harry and I get these scars?" I asked our aunt once when I was little.

"In the car crash when your parents died!" she snapped. "No asking questions!"

Harry and I were both very thin but we looked even thinner than we actually were, due to the fact that we had to wear Dudley's old clothes, and he was four times bigger than us. For example, today I was wearing a pair of jeans that had belonged to him when he was seven and a shirt that he'd worn when he was six or so; the sleeves still reached my elbows.

"Brush your hair, boy!" Uncle Vernon barked and entered the kitchen just as I was sliding the eggs onto plates. I smirked to myself as I ran my fingers through my twin brother's hair: it was a bird's nest and I always swore that I'd pay anyone who could win a battle against it a thousand dollars.

"My hair's not that bad!" he'd protest whenever I said that.

"Whatever lets you sleep at night," I'd grin.

By the time I was sliding the last of the eggs out, Dudley Dursley entered the kitchen. You could always tell when he was around; if the room suddenly grew darker and the floor shook, he was there. He was so fat that I gave him at least a year before he'd be too big to fit in the doorway. On top of that, he had the same blond hair as Aunt Petunia, though it was thicker, and watery blue eyes.

"You look like a baby angel, Diddy dear!" our aunt would sniff proudly whenever she could.

_More like a pig in a wig,_ Harry and I would think to each other, trying desperately not to laugh.

"Happy birthday, son!" Uncle Vernon ruffled Dudley's hair.

"Where's my food?" Dudley demanded.

"It's coming," I scowled.

"Well, hurry it up!"

I had a number of responses I dearly wanted to use but I knew that I'd get into trouble, so I settled for smiling sweetly, something that made Uncle Vernon's face scrunch up suspiciously. Well, I honestly couldn't blame him…

_No, because you're a perfect little angel, aren't you? _Harry teased me and I stuck my tongue out at him as I set down a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Dudley who, far from thanking me, dug in like the pig he was. I wrinkled my nose.

"How many presents do I have?" Dudley demanded with his mouth full.

"Thirty seven," Uncle Vernon said proudly. I rolled my eyes.

_As if managing to count to thirty seven is something to be proud of when you're a grown man, _Harry thought and I mentally snorted.

"Thirty seven?" Dudley screamed.

_I didn't even know he could count that high,_ I thought to Harry, who snickered quietly.

"I got thirty eight last year!" Dudley's face was turning red and I exchanged a look with Harry before we pulled a Dudley and scoffed our food, although this was in case our fat cousin upturned the table.

"Don't cry, popkin, we'll get you two more presents while we're out today, ok?" Aunt Petunia said hurriedly and Dudley stopped and started trying to mentally add two to thirty seven. It looked like hard work.

"So I'll have - I'll have thirty - thirty -"

_Thirty nine! _I thought; this was an all-time low for him! _But forty if I buy you an abacus! You know, the things little year one kids use? _Harry burst out laughing in my mind and I could see him trying not to laugh out loud.

"Thirty nine, sweetie!" Aunt Petunia said. Dudley immediately calmed down and collapsed onto his chair, making the floor shake slightly.

"That's ok then, Mummy!" he said, making me choke on my bacon. Aunt Petunia shot me a nasty look as Harry pounded me on the back and I finally managed to dislodge the food, my eyes watering.

"Little man wants what he's worth! That's my boy!" Uncle Vernon said proudly.

_Oh, please! _If they kept this up, I was seriously going to be sick one of these days.

_Same here,_ my brother agreed.

The phone rang just then and Aunt Petunia went out into the hall to answer it. While she was taking the call, Dudley managed to unwrap his new television, video games and racing bike, before Aunt Petunia returned with a grim face.

"Bad news," she said as Dudley ripped the paper off his new gold watch. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take the boy and girl."

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry and I grinned widely at each other as we finished our plates of food. Every year on his birthday, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would take Dudley and a friend out somewhere, like an amusement park, and my brother and I would be left with Mrs Figg, a batty old woman whose house smelled of cabbage. Whenever we were there, she made us look at pictures of every cat she'd ever owned, so I'm sure it's not hard to work out why I wasn't feeling very sorry, even though I tried.

_Don't worry, I don't feel very sorry either, _Harry told me.

"What about Marge?" Uncle Vernon suggested. "We could ring her and ask her to take care of the brats."

_No way in hell! _I thought as Harry's eyes widened. I'll admit that I did start panicking a little there but it was understandable! She was a demon!

"Vernon, don't be silly, she hates them!"

_Whew! Crisis averted! _I sighed to myself and Harry nodded.

Our aunt and uncle often spoke as if Harry and I weren't standing right next to them, or as if we were something disgusting, like dung. It didn't bother us though; you grow used to it after a while.

"What about your friend, what's-her-name – Yvonne?"

"She's in Majorca!"

"Why don't you just leave us here?" Harry asked and against my wishes, my heart rose; maybe we'd finally get a go on Dudley's computer or actually eat our hearts out! God knows we needed it…

Aunt Petunia pursed her lips like she'd eaten something sour and I knew that was a no-go.

"And come home to find the place in ruins?"

"We won't blow the house up!" Harry protested but our aunt and uncle were talking again.

_Well, we might, _I thought. _I mean, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to us… _

"We could take them and leave them in the car…"

"Petunia, the car's new, I won't hear of it!"

At that moment, Dudley started to cry. The last time he'd actually cried was when he was around seven or so; this was just fake-crying. If Dudley wailed, his mother would do anything to please him, no matter how ridiculous or expensive.

"Oh Duddykins, don't cry!" Aunt Petunia flung herself on Dudley. "Mummy won't let those nasty brats spoil your special day!"

"I d-don't want th-them t-to come!" Dudley howled. "Th-they always sp-spoil everything!"

I successfully hid my snort, though it meant that I had to cough. Dudley grinned at me and Harry and Aunt Petunia shot us a nasty look. The doorbell rang and Dudley instantly stopped crying as Aunt Petunia let his best friend, Piers Polkiss, in. Piers had a rat-like face and large front teeth, further enhancing his ratty look.

Ten minutes later, Harry and I were squashed in the back seat of the car, hardly able to believe our luck. Beforehand, however, Uncle Vernon had pulled us aside and warned us not to try any 'funny business', as he called it.

"It's not like we know how it happens!" I protested but he had simply grabbed my hair, pulled me close and hissed, "Understand?" I nodded with a scared expression and he let me go, letting Harry hug me. He hadn't actually hit us before but I wouldn't put it past him to try it one of these days, though he'd have to go through an overprotective Harry to get to me - considering that Harry was pretty skinny and weak, it wouldn't be all that hard.

_I'm not weak! _he protested.

_Uh, yeah you are._

_Am not!_

_Are too!_

_Shut up._

_I win, _I grinned at him. That was how most of our fights went; we'd have silent battles and I'd end up winning.

_I won once! _Harry said triumphantly.

_Do we really have to go through this again? _I sighed dramatically. He stuck his tongue out at me in response.

I actually was telling the truth; strange things might happen around me and Harry but we honestly had no idea of how they did! Like once, for example, Harry and I came home from school and Harry's hair was messy as ever, so Aunt Petunia pushed him into a chair and cut his hair so short that he looked like a gangster. He'd spent the night worrying about what the people at school were going to say, only to find that it had grown back!

We'd both been given a week in our cupboard (how does that work?) but Harry told me that he thought it was totally worth it, just to see the looks on the Dursleys' faces, even though neither he nor I had any idea of how it had happened.

Another time, Aunt Petunia was trying to force me into a disgusting old jumper of Dudley's, from when he was around five or so. It was brown with orange bobbles and it made me want to puke when I saw it. As Aunt Petunia tried to force it over my head, it grew smaller and smaller, until it definitely wouldn't fit me. My aunt decided that it'd shrunk in the wash and I got away scot-free.

On the other hand, we'd gotten into terrible trouble for being on the roof of our school kitchens. Dudley and his gang were chasing us and we made to leap behind the rubbish bins but I think the wind must have caught us because there we were, on the roof. We'd been punished terribly for this; by the time we'd been let out of our cupboard, we'd lost some weight that I didn't even know we had.

As he drove to the zoo, Uncle Vernon started complaining. People at work, me, the bank, Harry, the council and us were just a few of his favourite subjects but this morning, he was on about motorbikes.

"…roaring on like maniacs, the idiots," Uncle Vernon he said as a motorbike overtook us.

"I had a dream about a flying motorbike," Harry frowned. My eyes widened and I stuffed my fingers in my ears.

"MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!" Uncle Vernon roared as he nearly crashed the car and turned to face us.

"I know!" Harry said. 'It was only a dream!" Uncle Vernon didn't listen and after glaring at my brother, he turned to face the front again.

When we arrived at the zoo, Aunt Petunia bought Dudley and Piers enormous chocolate ice creams and then the ice cream lady asked me and Harry what we wanted, so Aunt Petunia had to buy me us each cheap lemon ice lolly.

_Actually, this isn't bad,_ I thought to Harry, licking my ice lolly and he nodded as we stared at a gorilla scratching its head.

_And that gorilla looks a lot like Dudley, except for the fact that it has black fur, not blond, _Harry added.I started giggling to myself and Aunt Petunia shot me a suspicious look.

When we set off again, Harry and I were careful to walk a little away from Dudley and Piers so that they wouldn't start hitting us when they grew bored.

We ended up having lunch in the zoo restaurant and Uncle Vernon let me and Harry finish Dudley's first knickerbocker glory, because it was too small and had too little ice cream on the top. Well, I should've known it was too good to last…

After lunch, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia took us to the reptile house. Dudley and Piers kept going on about how they wanted to see huge, man-eating pythons but when they found the largest snake, they were disappointed. It was asleep.

"Make it move!" Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped on the glass but the snake didn't stir. "Again!"

"Move!" Uncle Vernon shouted but the snake ignored him.

"Boring!" Dudley announced and he disappeared with Uncle Vernon and Piers. Harry and I moved closer to the glass and the snake looked up and winked at us. Yeah, it _winked!_

"What in the world? Snakes don't even have any eyelids!" I said to myself, a little unnerved.

"I bet you're bored in there, aren't you?" Harry murmured and the snake nodded vigorously as it slithered up and looked at us through the glass. "Where are you from?" The snake pointed its tail at a sign that read _Boa Constrictor, Brazil. This species was bred in the zoo._

"We feel for you," I nodded. "Cooped up in there, with nowhere to go…but at least my brother and I get to visit the rest of our house. What's your name, anyway? I'm Olivia and this is Harry." I hadn't been expecting a reply, so Harry and I got a shock when the snake opened its mouth and hissed, "_I guesssss you can call me Sssssammy_."

"Sammy?" I laughed.

"Why Sammy?" Harry grinned.

"_I like it_," Sammy said. He suddenly hissed a warning and we turned to see Dudley waddling towards us, a gleam in his face as he looked at Sammy.

"Move!" He pushed me and Harry to the ground and I felt a white-hot anger burn in me as I hit the hard concrete. Dudley and Piers started tapping the glass and saying stuff to Sammy.

"Argh!" My eyes widened and Harry and I gasped when we saw that the glass had vanished! Dudley overbalanced and fell in as Sammy slithered out.

"_Thanksssss, Harry and Olivia,"_ he said and my twin and I smiled.

"Hey, you have a safe journey, won't you?" I said and Sammy winked again and nodded.

"_Adiossssss, amigo, amiga!_" And with that, he exited the reptile house.

I looked back up at the enclosure as people around us screamed and I saw that the glass had reappeared and Dudley was pounding on it and yelling.

"We'll get you out of there, Diddy!" Aunt Petunia shrieked as she ran up to the glass and started trying to smash it.

_Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting trip, _I thought gloomily.

_Yeah, I'll say, _Harry replied.

The car trip home was a quiet one; Dudley was sniffing, Piers was still terrified, Aunt Petunia was still gasping for air at times and Uncle Vernon's knuckles were unusually white on the steering wheel.

"Mr Dursley, did you know that Harry and Olivia talking to the snake?" Piers suddenly said and I groaned mentally. _Great, thanks. Bloody Piers and his big mouth…_

_I'll write up our wills, _Harry thought in a voice heavy with sarcasm.

When Piers had left the house, Uncle Vernon collapsed into a large chair and ordered Aunt Petunia to bring him a brandy.

"Get to your cupboard, boy, girl…" he wheezed. "Can't look at you two…go to cupboard…no meals…" I turned and bolted to my cupboard with Harry, who shut the door.

Hours later, even though we knew it was dark, we couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for a snack until we were sure that the Dursleys were asleep. Considering that Dudley usually played on his game consoles until about eleven thirty, we had to wait until about midnight and we didn't even have a watch to tell the time.

Harry and I had lived with the Dursleys for ten horrible years, for as long as we've been able to remember since our mum and dad died. The funny thing was, neither of us could remember being in the car when it crashed.

Sometimes, when we really strained our memories, we remembered a flash of green light and a searing pain on my temple, though Harry said that it was his forehead that hurt. It sure didn't sound like any car crash I'd ever heard of, which was why I was a little sceptical about exactly how our parents had died. Harry seemed to accept it though.

We were forbidden to ask our aunt and uncle anything, of course; the Dursleys hated questions and there were no pictures of our mother or father anywhere.

Both Harry and I had always dreamed and fantasised of some unknown relative coming to tell us that we no longer needed to live here, but it'd never happened; the Dursleys were our only family and we were forced to accept it.

But whenever we were out in the street, Harry and I got the feeling that some really weird strangers seemed to know us. A small man in a purple top hat had bowed to us once, making his hat fall off. After Aunt Petunia asked us furiously if we knew him, she hurried us and Dudley out of the shop without buying anything.

Another time, a wild-looking woman in green had waved cheerfully at us on a bus, a bald man dressed in purple had shaken our hands and a plump blonde woman had actually hugged us fiercely last week. They all seemed to vanish when we tried to get a second look at them, something that irritated and confused us greatly.

At school, Harry and I only had each other. Everybody knew that Dudley and his gang hated us, the weirdoes Harry and Olivia Potter with their too-big clothes, skinny bodies and weird scars and no one disagreed with Dudley and his gang if they wanted to live.

_Stop thinking about that and go to sleep, _Harry told me. _I'll wake you when I get the food._

_You're sweet, Harry, you know that? _I smiled. My eyes shut and I was asleep within minutes.

**How was it? Reviews are appreciated and flames will go into the making of our epic bonfire, with marshmallows and s'mores and sausages and EVERY TYPE OF FOOD YOU CAN IMAGINE! Ok, I'm going now so that Em can have her turn ^_^ **


	2. The Letters from No One

**A/N: It's me, Em (or SlytherinGirl26)! So, this is my chapter and Mana and I hope that we get loads of reviews! (No, duh…). Thanks literaryrachel, Ali, DivineOrder and Dream Lightning for your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: No. We're not giving you the satisfaction of saying that we don't own it - drat! You're very clever… (narrows eyes)**

* * *

Sammy's escape earned me and Harry our longest ever punishment. By the time Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon let us out of our cupboard, the school holidays were in full swing and Dudley had already broken half of his birthday presents.

Harry and I had mixed feelings about the holidays: on the one hand, we were ecstatic to get away from school but on the other hand, we couldn't escape Dudley's gang, who visited every day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all as stupid as each other but I figured that Dudley was the gang leader due to being the stupidest of the lot.

They even had a favourite game: Potter Hunting. We usually coped by running from the house before they noticed us and spending the day on the streets.

We were glad about one thing: at least we wouldn't have to go to school with Dudley anymore, as he and Piers had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old school, Smeltings (Smeltings? What sort of a name was that?). On the other hand, Harry and I were going to the local high school, Stonewall High, something that Dudley found hilarious.

"They stuff new people's heads down the toilet there," he said. "Want to come upstairs with me and practise?"

"No thanks, the poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head stuffed down it," I sighed in mock-disappointment. "It might be sick."

Harry and I ran for our cupboard, laughing, before Dudley could figure out what I'd said. Actually, I still don't think he understands…

One day next week, Aunt Petunia took Dudley for a trip into London to buy his school uniform and she left me and Harry at Mrs Figg's. It turns out that the mad woman tripped on one of her cats and that was how she broke her leg, so she didn't seem as fond and doting of them as before. She allowed us some TV and also gave us a bit of chocolate cake but I declined, having serious doubts about how old it was.

"What are you looking at?" I asked Snowy, who was sitting on the couch, watching me with her unblinking green eyes. "I'm not doing anything to you!"

"Even the cats hate us," Harry snorted. "That's an all-time low."

That night, Aunt Petunia ordered a fashion show so that Dudley could parade in his new uniform, which consisted of a maroon tailcoat, orange knickerbockers, flat straw hats that I knew were called boaters and a knobbly stick for hitting people when the teachers had their backs turned. How that was training for later life, I'll never know.

Uncle Vernon said in a rough, husky voice that this was the proudest day of his life, while Aunt Petunia burst into tears and sobbed about how her Ickle Diddykins was so grown up and handsome.

I didn't trust myself to say one word, as I thought that I might have broken a couple of ribs from trying not to laugh and I knew it was the same case with Harry. It eventually became too much and we had to run for our cupboard and let out the biggest laugh ever.

_Really makes me glad Harry and I aren't going there, _I thought with a wide grin.

_Same here, I don't think I could stick having to wear that! _Harry replied. _Besides, our uniform can't be any worse! _Oh Harry, you just had to jinx it, didn't you?

The next morning, when Harry and I entered the kitchen, a horrible smell greeted us and I felt like coughing and collapsing. Instead, my brother and I crossed to the sink and looked into a tub full of dirty grey liquid, where clothes were floating around.

"What's this?" I choked out. Aunt Petunia's lips pursed in her trademark _how-dare-you-ask-me-a-question _fashion and Harry snorted mentally at that thought.

"Your new uniforms," she eventually said and I looked at it again.

"Really?" Harry frowned. "I didn't know it had to be so wet." I snorted quietly.

"Don't be stupid!" my aunt snapped. "I'm just dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes for you and the girl! They'll look like everyone else's when I'm done."

I seriously doubted this but knew better than to argue, so I sat down and pulled a piece of toast towards me, resigning to the fact that I'd probably be known as Elephant-Girl at school.

_And Elephant-Boy too, _Harry sighed.

Uncle Vernon and Dudley entered a few minutes later, their noses wrinkled at the smell of our new uniforms. Uncle Vernon unfolded his newspaper and disappeared behind it and Dudley waved his stick around. The idiot took it everywhere with him, and broke pretty much anything he so much as looked at.

The mail slot suddenly clicked.

"Dudley, get the mail," Uncle Vernon said, not lowering his newspaper.

"Make Harry and Olivia get it."

"Harry, Olivia, get the mail."

"Make Dudley get it," we responded together.

"Poke them with your stick, Dudley." I glared at Dudley and went out into the hall with Harry, rubbing my ribs as I did so.

Harry picked up the mail and flicked through it, handing me letter after letter. A postcard from Aunt Marge – _boring._ A few bills – _yawn. _A letter for me – _wait, a letter for me? _Harry froze after handing me the letter and looked down at his hand, his mouth open slightly. I frowned as I studied the letter, which said:

_Miss O. Potter_

_The Cupboard under the Stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging_

_Surrey_

_Who the hell would write to me? _I thought, examining the thick, yellow parchment envelope with emerald ink. _And Harry for that matter? _I added, seeing him gaze reverently at his own letter, looking as amazed as I felt.

_Yeah, who would? _Harry thought back.

Turning my envelope over, I saw a purple wax seal with a lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake, all surrounding a large letter 'H'.

_Interesting coat of arms, _I thought.

"Hurry up, boy, girl!" Uncle Vernon called. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his 'brilliant' joke and I rolled my eyes as Harry and I returned to the kitchen and handed Uncle Vernon the bills and postcard, then sat down and slit open our letters.

"Marge's ill," Uncle Vernon felt the need to inform us as he tossed the bills aside. "Ate a funny whelk."

_Good, _I thought savagely and I saw Harry nod slightly.

"Dad, Harry and Olivia have something!" Dudley suddenly said and just as I was unfolding the letter inside, which was written on the same parchment, the envelope was ripped out of my hand.

"Hey, that's mine!" I said, jumping up with Harry and trying to snatch the letters back.

"Who'd be writing to brats like you?" Uncle Vernon sneered and shook my letter open to read it. His face shifted from red to green to porridge-grey within the space of a few seconds.

"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped and lifted the letter higher as Dudley tried to get it. Aunt Petunia took it and gasped dramatically.

"Vernon! Oh, Vernon!" she said and I rolled my eyes for the second time that morning. Our aunt really was the biggest drama queen out there!

_You don't say! _Harry said sarcastically.

Dudley, not used to being ignored, rapped our uncle sharply on the head.

"I want to read those letters!" he demanded.

"Actually, we want to read them, since they're ours," Harry said furiously.

"Get out, the three of you," Uncle Vernon croaked, stuffing my letter back into the envelope. None of us moved.

"WE WANT OUR LETTERS!" Harry and I yelled.

"Let me see them!" Dudley commanded.

"OUT!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry and Dudley, while Aunt Petunia grabbed me by the hair, and they threw us out into the hall, slamming the door behind us. Dudley and Harry promptly had a furious, silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole. I rolled my eyes and crouched down to listen at the bottom of the door. Naturally, Dudley won, so Harry lowered himself down and listened through the crack at the bottom of the door with me, his glasses dangling from one ear.

"Vernon, how could they know where the boy and girl sleep?" Aunt Petunia said in a quivering voice. "You think they're watching us?"

"Watching us – may be spying on us," Uncle Vernon muttered and Harry and I watched his black shoes pace up and down the kitchen.

"Vernon, maybe we should write back and tell them that we don't want -"

"No, we'll ignore them! If they don't get a reply…yes, that's best…"

"Vernon –"

"I'm not having two here, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in that we'd beat it out of them?"

That night, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before: he visited us in our cupboard.

"Where're our letters?" Harry said the moment our uncle stuck his head in. He tried to push his body in too but thought better of it.

"They were addressed to you by mistake," Uncle Vernon replied. "I have burned them."

"It wasn't a mistake! They had our cupboard on them!"

"SILENCE!" A few spiders fell and I wriggled away subtly. Our uncle then forced his face into a painful-looking smile.

"Er, yes, Harry," he said, "about this cupboard…your aunt and I feel that you and Olivia really too big for it now…we feel that it might be nice if you two moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?" I said suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"Don't ask questions!" he glared. "Take your stuff upstairs now!"

This house had four bedrooms: one for our aunt and uncle, one for guests (usually Aunt Marge), one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept everything that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.

It only took one trip upstairs to move our possessions and I sighed and lay on the bed that I claimed as Harry and I listened to Dudley throw a temper tantrum.

"I don't want her in there – I need that room – make them get out!"

I turned and stared at Harry, who was lying on the other bed.

"Yesterday, I'd have given anything to be up here but today, I'd prefer us to be in the cupboard with our letters than up here without it," Harry sighed and looking into his sad green eyes, I wholeheartedly agreed. To distract myself, I got up, picked a book (that, knowing Dudley, had never been touched) and started to read.

When the mail arrived the next day, Uncle Vernon made Dudley go and get it. He could have just been trying to be nice to me and Harry, but I knew that he didn't want us to get the letters.

Dudley could be heard banging down the hall with his stick, and then he cried, "There's another two! Mr H. Potter, Miss O. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom –"

With a cry, Uncle Vernon bolted into the hall, Harry and me following behind. Our uncle had to wrestle Dudley to get the letters and Harry and even I jumped into the fray. After a minute of fighting, the results were revealed: Dudley was on the floor, Uncle Vernon had our letters, Harry was hanging off his neck and I was clutching our uncle's waist. He shook me and Harry off.

"Go to your cupboard, boy, girl – I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed. "Dudley – just go." I took one look at his face and half-ran upstairs to the room.

_Someone knows that we've been moved! _I thought as Harry entered and I sat on my bed. _Someone knows! And I'm sure they'll try again! Uh oh… _I added, catching sight of the look on Harry's face. _Harry's got a plan… _

_Hey, my plans aren't that bad! _Harry thought.

_You just keep telling yourself that… _I snorted.

The alarm clock I'd for Harry fixed rang at six the next morning, jolting me awake. I watched blearily as Harry quickly turned it off, dressed and crept downstairs quietly.

_So, your plan is to wait on the corner of Privet Drive for the postman and get the letters for this house first, huh? Hmm…it could work if it was anyone other than you or me…_

_Shut up, Liv, _Harry retorted.

_You know it's true! _Sure enough -

"AAARRGGGGGHHH!" I jumped and fell off my bed, before scuttling out into the hallway. Harry was frozen at the front door; he'd stepped on something alive! Lights clicked on and I saw to my horror that my brother had stepped on our uncle's face! He'd been lying at the front door in a sleeping bag and I clearly saw that he'd been trying to prevent Harry from carrying out his plan.

After half an hour of him yelling at Harry, Uncle Vernon told my twin to go and make him a cup of tea. I gave him about ten minutes before I dressed, slid downstairs and started cooking breakfast as per my aunt's orders.

"I bet you had something to do with it too, girl!" she glared as I got out the bread. Well, I did fix the alarm clock, so technically she was right, but she didn't need to know that…though I did know it wouldn't work…

_Stop making me feel worse, _Harry said.

_Well, sorry Mr Grumpypants! _

Once breakfast was ready, Uncle Vernon strode into the kitchen, holding six letters in green ink.

"We want –" Before Harry could finish his sentence, Uncle Vernon ripped up the letters before our eyes.

Our uncle didn't go to work that day – instead, he stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.

"If they can't deliver the letters, they'll give up," Uncle Vernon explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails.

"Vernon, I'm not so sure that'll work –"

"These people's minds work in weird ways, Petunia, they're nothing like you or me."

_Lucky them, _I thought sourly from where Harry and I were sitting on the stairs, watching him try to hammer with the fruitcake that our aunt had brought him. For once, I wasn't even reading.

On Friday, we received twelve letters. As the mail slot was boarded up, they were forced through the bottoms and sides of the front and back doors and even pushed through the downstairs toilet window.

Uncle Vernon took another day off work and nailed up the front and back doors. He hummed 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' and jumped at tiny noises as Harry and I watched him from our perch on the banister of the stairs, our eyes wide.

The next day, things really began to escalate. Twenty four letters found their way to us, rolled up inside the two dozen eggs that the poor, confused milkman gave Aunt Petunia through the living room window. As Uncle Vernon made furious calls to the dairy and post office to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded our letters in the blender.

"Who the heck wants to talk to you two this badly?" Dudley said in astonishment.

"Honestly, Dudley, I wish I knew," I sighed.

On Sunday, Uncle Vernon looked tired and sick but happier than we'd ever seen him.

"I like Sundays," he said happily, spreading marmalade on his newspaper. "You know why?"

"Because there's no post?" I said warily but instead of yelling at me, Uncle Vernon chuckled.

"That's right, Olivia," he said. "No damn letters on Sunday! Finally, a day of peace!" Harry and I exchanged looks.

Something flew down the chimney and struck our uncle on the back of his head, making him slash his finger with the (blunt) knife and swear. Suddenly, letters galore whizzed down the chimney and flew around the living room. While Aunt Petunia tried to protect Dudley, Harry and I jumped up and tried to catch a letter.

"OUT!" Aunt Petunia pulled Dudley out and grabbed Harry, who was closest, by the hair.

"Run, Liv!" Harry shouted as I finally caught a letter. I bolted for our room but Uncle Vernon was hot on my heels. As I reached the staircase, he grabbed my hair, pulled me back and snatched the letter out of my hand.

"Give it back!" I cried, struggling, but he pulled my hair harder, punched me in the ribs and threw me away as he tore up the letter.

"That does it," he said, trying to be calm but pulling out great chunks of his moustache. I stared at him as I clutched at my stomach, tears in my eyes, and Harry hugged me protectively; our uncle was immensely proud of his moustache, so if he was pulling it out…

"I want you all to go upstairs, pack some clothes and meet back here in five minutes! No longer!"

Ten minutes later, we'd managed to force the front door open and we were speeding towards the highway. Dudley was sniffling from next to me; our uncle had belted him around the head for holding us up as he'd tried to pack his VCR, computer and TV into his sports bag.

Occasionally, Uncle Vernon would turn and drive the other way, muttering, "Shake 'em off…shake 'em off…"

We didn't stop for food or drink all day and by evening, Dudley was howling. He'd never gone five minutes without eating or blowing up an alien on his computer, he'd missed five TV shows he'd wanted to see and this was the worst day of his life.

"I want to go home," I whispered, my head resting on Harry's shoulder. He put his arm around me and stroked my hair.

"Same here, Liv," he replied quietly.

At last, we stopped outside a not-so-cheerful-looking, dark hotel and Uncle Vernon booked two rooms. He and Aunt Petunia slept in one, while Dudley, Harry and I shared the second room, which had twin beds. As Dudley snored away, Harry and I sat on the windowsill, me reading by moonlight one of the few books I'd managed to grab as I tried to take my mind off our situation. Harry just stared at the lights outside, clearly deep in thought.

Over a breakfast of stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast the next morning, the owner of the hotel came up to us, looking puzzled.

"'Scuse me, but are two of you Mr H. Potter and Miss O. Potter? I got an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up two of the letters and as Harry dove for them, Uncle Vernon deftly plucked them out of the woman's hand.

"I'll take them," he said shortly and followed her as I pounded the table in annoyance, earning a glare from Aunt Petunia.

We set off again, and our uncle stopped briefly at one point to buy a thin package. He didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked him what it was, something that worried me greatly.

We stopped in numerous places: the middle of a forest, the edge of a cliff and even in the middle of a giant bridge. At each place, Uncle Vernon got out, shook his head, got back in and drove off.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley said that afternoon and Harry and I snorted.

Uncle Vernon finally parked at the coast and he locked the door and disappeared with the package as it started to rain.

"It's Monday," Dudley snivelled. "My favourite show's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television." I blinked. Dudley could be counted on to know what day of the week it was, thanks to television, and if it was Tuesday tomorrow, then that meant that it would be Harry's and my birthday tomorrow.

It wasn't like they were any fun though – last year, the one year we'd received a present, they'd given us a coat hanger and a pair of foul-coloured socks each. Still, it wasn't as if you turned eleven every day.

_Yeah, happy birthday for tomorrow, I guess, _Harry said.

Uncle Vernon returned with an evil smile that made my stomach squirm.

"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out of the car!" It was freezing outside and I caught sight of a small hut on a rock far out to sea.

"There's a storm tonight!" Uncle Vernon said delightedly, rubbing his hands. "And this kind gentleman's agreed to let us use his boat!" A toothless old man limped up, grinning wickedly and pointing to a small boat bobbing in the grey water.

"I've already taken care of our rations, so all aboard!" my uncle said.

It was freezing in the boat – icy water kept us drenched and a cold wind blew ferociously. The actual hut was horrible; it smelled of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wall and the fireplace was damp and contained no heat whatsoever.

Uncle Vernon handed out our rations: a packet of chips each and five bananas (Harry had forced me to take his banana). When we finished our chips, he tried to start a fire with the packets but they just burnt and shrivelled.

"Could use some of those letters now, hmm?" he said cheerfully, the smile on his face making my insides churn. He was in the best mood I'd seen him in for a long time – he obviously thought that no one could battle through the storm to deliver my letters. I privately agreed, though it didn't make me feel any better about the whole thing.

_And how would it? _Harry thought.

_Shut up, Harry, you're interrupting my pessimism! _I thought and he snorted mentally.

At nightfall, the storm stared to peak. Spray from the water splattered the sides of the hut and the wind rattled the dirty windows. Aunt Petunia managed to scrounge up a few mould-ridden blankets and made up a bed for Dudley on the couch as she and Uncle Vernon took the bed in the next room and Harry and I were left with the thinnest blanket of all, trying to find the softest bit of floor we could.

The storm raged and I couldn't sleep; I was shivering with cold and my stomach was protesting hungrily. Harry hugged me as I shivered violently and I smiled softly and buried my face in his skinny chest.

For once, Dudley's snores couldn't be heard – they were lost in the storm. His watch read _11:50 _and I realised that there were ten minutes until our eleventh birthday. Harry obviously realised it too because he sighed quietly and as I removed my face from his baggy shirt, we lay on the floor and watched our birthday slowly tick closer.

With five minutes left, we heard something creak outside.

"What's that?" I whispered.

"I don't know," my twin replied.

_I hope the roof doesn't fall in, _Harry thought. _Although we'll probably be a hell of a lot warmer if it does. That or we'd be dead._

_Probably the second one, _I snorted.

Four minutes left, and I thought that 4 Privet Drive would probably be so full of letters that we might be able to sneak one. I mean, one letter out of a hundred? Actually, Uncle Vernon might notice…I mean, he notices the strangest things…

_You don't say! _Harry said.

_Is that the sea? _I thought as I heard a slapping noise and the time clicked to _11:57_.

_Possibly._

With two minutes to go, I heard a weird crunching noise and Harry gripped me tighter. That was either the rock crumbling into the sea or something very big outside; I was certain it was the first one.

"One minute," I smiled. _Ten – nine – _"Maybe we should wake Dudley up to tick him off," Harry said and I snorted_ – three – two – one – _

BOOM.

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**END. How was that? Mana and I are pretty much always with each other, so you can expect unnaturally quick updates :) Oh, and Mana and I have a poll up, to decide which house Olivia should go to - the choices are Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. ****Now, I have to go and finish up chapter five of my own story so that it's ready for tomorrow…au revoir!**


	3. The Keeper of the Keys

**A/N: It's meeeeeeeee, Mana, with my new username! The story behind it? I'll explain at the end!**

**Anyway, thanks to SophiaLily1980, DivineOrder, mls8720, ShadowWolfAlchemist and dream lightning for your reviews! :) In answer to your review, SophiaLily1980, no, I am changing the pairing but it won't be OC/Draco - Em has fiercely drilled into me that it is far too overused.**

**And do you guys mind if we skip Diagon Alley? For some reason, Em and I have a bit of a block about it and we sat down today and only got a paragraph written. I'm serious, it's like that chapter hates us or something and if we try and write it without copying word-for-word, you won't get an update till next month or so.**

**And don't forget to vote in our poll! Gryffindor is currently winning but Em and I like Ravenclaw - it offers a little AU twist to the story. I mean, how many twin sis stories have the twin in Gryffindor? Yup.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, Em and I magically got the rights to Harry Potter overnight. Not.**

* * *

BOOM.

Dudley jerked awake as I stared at the door in fright, clutching onto Harry's arm tightly.

"Where's the cannon?" our cousin said stupidly. We heard a crash and Harry and I turned to see our uncle slide into the room, a rifle in his hands.

_A rifle? _I thought incredulously. _He brought a rifle near three kids? Is he crazy?_

_Probably, _Harry thought back.

"Who are you?" Uncle Vernon said loudly. "I warn you – I'm armed!" There was a pause –

SMASH. The door was blown off its hinges and landed on the floor as a giant man stood in the doorway. He had long, shaggy hair and a beard that almost completely covered his face but his eyes glinted like black beetles. As he squeezed through the door, his head brushed the ceiling, even though he stooped. He then picked up the door, fitted it back into its frame and turned to look at us.

"Yeh couldn' make us a cup o' tea? It's not been an easy trip…" He then looked at Dudley.

"Yeh were a lot smaller the las' time I saw yeh, Harry," he frowned.

"I'm not Harry," Dudley squeaked.

"I'm Harry." Harry slowly edged forwards as the giant turned to us and his eyes crinkled in a smile.

"Blimey Harry, las' time I saw yeh, yeh were only a baby!" he said and his eyes found me. "Yeh too, Liv, haven' seen yeh in ages!" I made a small noise. How did this giant know who Harry and I were? He then turned to Dudley.

"Get up, yeh big lump." Dudley ran to hide behind Aunt Petunia, who was crouching behind Uncle Vernon.

"Yeh look a lot like yer dad, did yeh know, Harry?" the giant said, looking at my brother who stared back. "But yeh've got yer mum's eyes. But yeh, Liv," he turned to me, "yeh look exactly like yer mum!" I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept silent.

"I command you to leave immediately!" Uncle Vernon barked. "You are breaking and entering, sir, and that is against the law!"

"Shut up, Dursley." The giant pulled the rifle out of our uncle's hands, twisted it and threw it into the corner. Uncle Vernon squeaked and though it was Uncle Vernon he was targeting, I felt even more scared and clung to Harry tighter. "Yeh're nothin' bu' a great prune." The giant turned back to me.

"Anyway, happy birthday, Harry an' Liv," he said. "Got summat for yeh – it's a bit squashed but it'll taste nice." From inside his huge, black coat, he pulled out a slightly flattened box and handed it to us. I opened it with shaking hands. Inside was a small chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry and Olivia _written on it with green icing. Harry looked up at the giant and meant to say, "Thank you," but what came out was, "Who are you?" The giant chuckled.

"True, I shoulda introduced meself before. Name's Rubeus Hagrid." He reached out his hands and shook our entire arms – when he pulled away, my arm was numb for a few moments. "I'm the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, what about that tea? Though I wouldn' say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it."

The giant looked at the fireplace, the chip bags still smoking, and he snorted and leaned over it. I didn't see what he did but when he pulled his head out, there was a roaring fire. I gasped as the heat washed over me like I'd sunk into a hot bath and I shut my eyes and enjoyed the sensation, knowing now for sure that we weren't in any (immediate) danger.

_Liv, if he wanted to hurt us, he'd have done it by now, _Harry said and I knew he was right.

"Thank you, that's so much better!" I said to the giant, my discomfort and fear slowly ebbing, and he smiled. He sank back down onto the groaning couch and pulled all sorts of stuff out of his coat pockets: a squashed pack of sausages, a poker, a kettle, some teacups, a teapot and a bottle of some orange liquid that he drank from before making some tea.

The Dursleys, Harry and I sat in silence as the giant cooked but as he slid out six fat, juicy, slightly black sausages, Dudley fidgeted and Uncle Vernon said, "Don't touch a thing that he gives you, Dudley." The giant chuckled in a dark sort of way.

"That grea' puddin' don' need any more fattenin', Dursley," he said and passed the sausages to me and Harry. We were so hungry that we scoffed them in record time, completely ignoring the fact that they were burning hot and that we had no cutlery.

"I'm sorry but we still don't really know who you are," I said as I sipped my tea. The giant took a gulp of his and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"Call me Hagrid, everyone does," he said. "An' like I said before, I'm the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts – yeh'll both know abou' Hogwarts, o' course?"

"Um, no – sorry," Harry said quickly as Hagrid's face darkened.

"Sorry?" Hagrid glared. "It's those Dursleys who should be sorry!" Our aunt, uncle and cousin tried to blend into the shadows. "I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I didn' think yeh wouldn' know abou' Hogwarts! Didn' yeh ever wonder where yer parents learnt it all?"

"All what?" I frowned and Hagrid looked annoyed beyond belief.

"ALL WHAT?" he boomed as he got to his feet. "Now wait jus' a sec! Do yeh mean ter tell me that this boy an' girl – little Harry an' Liv! – knows nothin' abou' anythin'?" I scowled at the 'little' part and felt offended; who was this man to insinuate that Harry and I were dumb?

"We know some things!" I said. "I'm really good at maths and English and Harry's not bad either!" But Hagrid waved that information aside.

"I mean abou' our world," he said. "Yer world. My world. Yer parents' world!"

"What world?"

"DURSLEY!" Hagrid exploded. Uncle Vernon shrank back and mumbled something that sounded like, "Mimblewimble."

"Bu' yeh have ter know abou' yer mum and dad!" Hagrid said to me and Harry desperately. "I mean, they're famous! Yeh two're famous!"

"Our parents were famous?" Harry said and I was now very much confused.

"Yeh two don' know…I can' believe neither of yeh know…" he said, running a hand through his wild mane of hair. "Yeh don' know what yeh two are?"

"We're an eleven year old girl and boy," Harry said with a confused frown and Hagrid slapped a huge hand to his face and opened his mouth.

"Stop!" Uncle Vernon had (unfortunately) found his voice and he stepped forwards. "I won't allow you to tell the boy and girl anything!" He squeaked and backed away as Hagrid glared at him.

"Yeh never told 'em?" Hagrid thundered. "Yeh never told Harry an' Liv what was in tha' letter Dumbledore left for 'em? I was there, I saw Dumbledore leave it with 'em! An' yeh've kept it from 'em fer ten years?"

"Kept what from us?" I asked curiously.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU FROM TELLING THEM ANYTHING!" our uncle shouted in a panicked voice.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, the three o' yeh," Hagrid said and Aunt Petunia let out a dramatic gasp. "Harry, Liv – yeh're a witch an' wizard." There was a ringing silence, where only the whistling wind and stormy waves could be heard.

"We're a _what_?" Harry and I finally forced out in disbelieving unison.

"A wizard an' a witch." Hagrid sat back down on the couch. "An' yeh'll be thumpin' good 'uns, I'd say, once yeh're trained. I think it's abou' time yeh read yer letters." He reached into his Almighty Coat of Infinite Pockets (as I liked to call it) and pulled out two envelopes, which Harry and I accepted eagerly. I looked at the front of mine, which read:

_Miss O. Potter_

_The Floor_

_Hut-on-the-Rock_

_The Sea_

I slit open the envelope and pulled out the yellowish parchment that the letter was written on, before unfolding it and reading it.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Questions exploded in my head and I couldn't think of one to ask. Harry settled it by asking, "What does it mean, they await our owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, thanks fer remindin' me!" Hagrid rummaged in the Almighty Coat and pulled out a live owl with ruffled looking feathers. He then found a piece of parchment and a quill, before writing a note that I could read upside down:

_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

_Given Harry and Olivia their letters._

_Taking them to buy their things in the morning._

_Weather's terrible, hope you're well._

_Hagrid._

He rolled up the parchment and gave it to the owl, then crossed over to the window, threw the owl into the storm and returned to the sofa as if he'd just taken a phone call. I realised that my mouth was hanging open and I quickly shut it and Harry's too.

"Right, there's a few things yeh two should know before yeh get ter Hogwarts," Hagrid said but Uncle Vernon moved back into the light.

"They're not going," he said firmly.

"I'd like ter see a ruddy Muggle like yeh stop 'em," Hagrid replied.

"What's a Muggle?" I said curiously.

"Non-magic people," Hagrid answered. "It's yer bad luck yeh both grew up in the biggest family o' them I've ever seen."

"We swore that we'd stamp it out of them the minute we took her in!" my uncle said. "Witch and wizard indeed!"

"You knew?" I shrieked angrily. "You knew all this time that I was a witch and Harry was a wizard and you never said anything?"

"How could you not be two of _them_?" Aunt Petunia burst out, speaking for the first time. "My perfect little sister being who she was, how could you two not be? Oh, she got her letter and ran off to that school, and returned every holidays with her pockets full of frogspawn, turning teacups into rats and making things fly!" Our aunt took a deep breath and I got the feeling that she'd bottled this up for years, and now she was letting it all out.

"And then she met that James Potter, and they got married and had you two brats, and I knew you'd both be just as abnormal and freaky as them! And then they had to get themselves blown up and land us with the two of you!" I was very pale by this point and my heart was hammering.

"Blown up?" Harry finally managed to say as I clenched my fists tightly with anger which, unfortunately for my brother, happened to be around his arm. "You told us they died in a car crash!" He shook his arm and I apologetically loosened my grip.

"How in the world could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter?" Hagrid shouted. "This is an outrage! Harry an' Olivia Potter, not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"

"But why do they know our names? What happened to make me famous?" I asked and Hagrid seemed to deflate.

"I never expected ter run into this," he said quietly, his face now anxious instead of angry. "Dumbledore told me there might be trouble ter get yeh two but I never knew exactly how much yeh didn' know. Honestly, Liv, I dunno if I'm the right one ter tell yeh an' Harry but someone's gotta – yeh can' go ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He gave the Dursleys a filthy look.

"Please tell us, Hagrid," I said softly as I moved forwards and sat next to him on the couch, adding my own dirty look with a feeling of satisfaction. Harry followed and sank down next to me.

"Well, it's best that yeh two know as much as I can tell yeh," Hagrid said, patting my shoulder and making me sink into the couch. "I can' tell yeh everythin', mind, I don' know everythin' and great parts of it's a myst'ry…"

He stared into the fire and began after a moment. "Well, I guess it begins with someone called – well, it's incredible tha' yeh two don' know his name – everyone in our world does –"

"Who is it?" I said curiously, pulling myself out of the couch.

"Well – if I can help it, I don' like ter say the name. No one does."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Gulpin' Gargoyles, Harry, people're still scared ter say it. Well, there was this man who went – bad. As bad as yeh can go. His name was –" Here, Hagrid gulped.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested after a few moments.

"Nah, can' spell it," Hagrid said, shaking his head. "Alrigh' – his name's Vol – Voldemort." He shivered violently. "Please don' make me say it again."

"Ok," I said.

"Anyway, this – man – started lookin' fer followers abou' twenty years ago. He got 'em too – some were scared, some were bewitched, some jus' wanted a bit o' his power, because he was gettin' it alrigh'. Dark days, Harry, Liv, yeh didn' know who ter trust or who was workin' against yeh." I was sitting there, transfixed and horrified.

"Yeh didn' want ter get too friendly with strange people. He was takin' over an' anyone who stood up ter him was killed – the McKinnons, the Bones and the Prewetts, ter name some – he killed 'em horribly. One o' the only safe places was Hogwarts – Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who ever feared.

"Yeh mum and dad were two o' the best witches and wizards I knew. Head Boy an' Girl in their seventh year! I guess the real myst'ry's why Voldemort never tried to recruit 'em before – maybe he knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side."

I would've felt like humming the Star Wars song but I knew that it would be very inappropriate, given the circumstances. It would be disrespecting our own parents! It was a mark of how serious the situation was that Harry didn't say anything about my thoughts.

"Maybe You-Know-Who thought he could sway 'em ter his side, or maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All we know is that on Halloween ten years ago, he went ter the village where yeh two were livin'. Both of yeh were just a year old at the time. He went ter yer house an' – an' –" Hagrid took out a handkerchief and blew his nose with it, sounding like a foghorn.

"Sorry," he sniffed. "Bu' yeh couldn' find nicer people than yer parents – anyway…

"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – an' this is the myst'ry – he tried ter kill the two of yeh as well. Maybe he wanted ter finish the job completely, or he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn' do it. Have yeh never wondered how yeh got those scars on yer foreheads? They're no normal scars, that's what yeh get when a powerful, dark, evil curse hits yeh – took care o' yer mum and dad and even yer house bu' yeh two survived, an' that's what makes yeh both famous, because if You-Know-Who wanted yeh dead, there was no hope for yeh." My eyes widened.

"Hagrid, we can't be a wizard and a witch," Harry blurted out. I was a little sceptical myself - all our life, Harry and I'd been bullied by our aunt and uncle and clobbered by our cousin – why hadn't they turned into toads or another animal when they tried to push me around? Then again, we _did _make strange things happen…like the time we'd set the boa constrictor loose…and the time I upturned a rubbish bin on Dudley's head without even touching it…

_And the time my hair grew back! _Harry thought. That was the downside of the mind-link; we heard everything the other was thinking, even if we didn't want them to know, though it did mean that we kept no secrets from each other.

"Not a wizard an' witch?" Hagrid said, letting out a weak chuckle. "Haven' yeh ever made weird things happen when yeh were angry?" As Harry frowned and then slowly nodded, I smiled hesitantly at Hagrid, who positively beamed back.

"Harry Potter, not a wizard? An' Olivia Potter, not a witch? Yeh wait, yeh'll both be righ' famous at Hogwarts."

"Haven't I told you they're not going?" Uncle Vernon hissed, leaping forwards, grabbing one of Harry's and my arms and trying to drag us back, making me squeak. "They're going to Stonewall High, and they'll thank me for it! I've seen those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish – spellbooks, wands, cauldrons, owls, broomsticks –"

"If they want ter go, a Muggle like yeh isn't going ter stop 'em," Hagrid said as he pulled us out of our uncle's grip and held us close to him protectively. "Yeh mus' be bad ter try an' stop Lily an' James' son an' daughter from goin' ter Hogwarts! They've had their names down ever since they were born! They'll be with others jus' like 'em fer a change, and they'll be under the greatest Hogwarts headmaster ever, Albus Dumbledore –"

"I AM NOT PAYING SOME BARMY OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM A FEW MAGIC TRICKS!" Uncle Vernon yelled but he'd finally crossed the line. Hagrid grabbed his pink umbrella, waved it and thundered, "NEVER – INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!" The umbrella swished down and a flash of violet light encased Dudley, who'd stolen our cake and was pigging out on it. The next moment, he was squealing in pain and dancing around, clutching his bottom, where a curly pig's tail had sprouted. With a roar, Uncle Vernon pulled Aunt Petunia into the next room and slammed the door behind him.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," Hagrid said thoughtfully. "Meant ter turn him into a pig but I suppose he was so much like one already, there wasn' anythin' left ter do." I started giggling. "Would yeh mind not tellin' anyone abou' that, Harry, Liv? I'm not s'posed to use magic but I was allowed ter do a bit so that I could follow yeh and send yer letters ter yeh two."

"Why can't you use magic?" I asked curiously.

"Well, I used ter go ter Hogwarts but they expelled me in me third year. Me wand was snapped an' everythin'. Dumbledore kept me on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

"Why were you expelled?" Harry inquired.

"It's late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow, yeh need yer rest," Hagrid said loudly. "Gotta go inter town and get yer books an' all that." He took off his coat and threw it at me.

"Yeh two can kip under there fer the nigh'," he said as I struggled to disentangle myself from it and Harry started to laugh. "Don' mind if it wriggles, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in there fer the owl."

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**Ok, now I'm done, so here's the story behind my new name: I am part of the most epic forum ever to exist (Ranger Corps: Men in Cloaks) and we are having a huge war there between us and the snuggies, Mary Sues, Gary Stus, fangirls, Genovesans (long story unless you're a Ranger's Apprentice fan) and Merlin knows what else. Everyone is welcome to join and I am known as Colonel Mana there! Ok, cya!**


	4. Journey from Platform 9 & three quarters

**A/N: And it's me again, Mana! As Em and I said, we're skipping Diagon Alley 'cause we've got a major block with it. Trust me, if we try and write it, it'll take until this time in September to get it done -_- **

**DivineOrder: How do you think Liv is more impulsive? Is it something she's done or said? Em and I would like to know these things so could you list an example?**

**secretbear1: Yes, so do we, Harry and Sophie was just word for word with Sophie replacing Harry and Harry being a douchebag -_-**

**ElAmorNuncaMuere-LoveNeverDies: Thank you :)**

**SophiaLily1980: We did that? I thought that all of our stuff was original, though we do tend to rearrange sentences at times ;)**

**dream lightning: Thank you :)**

**Ok, an important note: Em and I have been updating every day but that's because we had three pre-written chapters. Now, with schoolwork catching up and all, we think we'll only manage once a week, maybe once a fortnight. And I might write a few chapters in a row like now, since Em has her own story too. And don't forget to vote in our poll - it'll be up until next week, when the Sorting should be posted!**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I suddenly turned blonde and an adult and found out that the rights to Harry Potter were mine.**

* * *

August with our aunt, uncle and cousin wasn't very fun. True, Dudley did run from the room whenever Harry and I or even just one of us entered and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did act as if we didn't exist, but it all got a little boring after a while.

Harry and I mostly just stayed up in our room, reading our new books. I really enjoyed _Hogwarts: A History_. It was very fascinating! I occasionally spewed out random facts, to which Harry would respond with a smile and a fact of his own from _A History of Magic_.

In fact, he even named his snowy owl with a name he found in there: Hedwig. I, on the other hand, called my brown cat Rowena, after one of the four founders of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw.

If I wasn't reading, I would examine my wand over and over again - ash and phoenix feather, twelve inches. Harry's, on the other hand, was made of holly and phoenix feather and was eleven inches long. However, both of them shared a common trait: the phoenix who had given the tail feathers for our wands had also provided the feather for Lord Voldemort's wand! Well, what a thing to find out.

As Hedwig flew in with another dead mouse for Harry (good thing Aunt Petunia doesn't come in here anymore!), I looked over at the homemade calendar on our wall for the millionth time and smiled. Every day, Harry and I ticked off a square, bringing us one day closer to the first of September.

"Hey, Liv?" Harry said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I replied, absentmindedly stroking a purring Rowena.

"D'you know how we're going to get to the station tomorrow?" I cursed quietly as I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

"Let's go ask our aunt and uncle for a lift," I suggested and Harry nodded, put down his book and the two of us descended the stairs to the living room, where the Dursleys were watching a quiz show on the TV. When Harry cleared his throat, Dudley's head shot up and he screamed and bolted from the room, hands over his bottom.

Chuckling very quietly, I said, "Um, excuse me, Uncle Vernon?" Said uncle grunted to let us know that he was listening.

"Er - we have to be at King's Cross station tomorrow morning to catch the train," Harry continued for me. "Do - do you think you could drive us?" I interpreted his answering grunt as yes.

"Thanks," my brother said and as we turned to go, Uncle Vernon actually spoke.

"Train's bit of a funny way to get to a magical school. All the magic carpets broken down, have they?"

"That wouldn't be a good way of getting a few hundred kids to Hogwarts unseen," I murmured.

"Where is this school of yours?" our uncle asked. Harry blinked.

"In Scotland," I replied; I'd read it in _Hogwarts: A History_.

"And our tickets say to catch the eleven o'clock train from platform nine and three quarters," Harry added, scanning his ticket. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon just stared at us.

"Platform what?" Aunt Petunia said.

"Nine and three quarters," I replied nervously. _Great, so if she doesn't know about the platform, what're we going to do when we get there?_

"There's no such thing."

"But it says so on our tickets!" Harry protested.

"Barking, howling mad, all of them," Uncle Vernon muttered. "You're lucky we have to go to London tomorrow or I wouldn't even bother with you two."

"Why do you have to go to London?" I asked in what I hoped was a polite voice. Uncle Vernon glared at me and said something about taking Dudley to the hospital to get 'that ruddy tail removed'. I figured that I'd ruin everything if I let my grin out, so I hurried upstairs.

The next morning, I was jerked awake when Harry fell over in the process of pulling his pants on.

"What you doin'?" I murmured sleepily.

"Hogwarts today!" was my twin's reply. My eyes shot wide open and I leapt out of bed and started dragging a pair of jeans on while trying to brush my hair at the same time. Harry burst out laughing when I fell down, my jeans back-to-front and the brush tangled in my hair.

"Oh, very funny," I scowled at him but that just made him laugh harder. I wasn't very amused, especially when I saw that the time was quarter past five in the morning.

After triple-checking that we had everything and making sure that Hedwig was in her cage and Rowena in her carrier, Harry paced around restlessly, while I pulled out _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _and started to read it.

"Harry, stop pacing, you're making me nervous," I muttered.

"I can't help it!"

When the Dursleys woke up, we ate a small breakfast (I could barely chew, let alone swallow), loaded our trunks into the back of the car and set off for King's Cross (after Aunt Petunia bribed Dudley with a new game to sit next to me), arriving there at ten thirty.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were strangely nice to us; they fetched us trolleys and loaded our trunks onto them, then pushed them into the station for us.

_What're they up to? _I thought. My question was answered when Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon stopped.

"Well, there you go, boy, girl," Uncle Vernon grinned. "Platforms nine and ten - I don't think they've built yours yet, have they?"

Looking around, my stomach started sinking as I realised that he was right; to our left was a big plastic number nine and to our right was a plastic ten but the only thing in between them was a brick barrier.

"Have a good term, you two," our uncle smirked and he, Aunt Petunia and Dudley returned to the car and drove away, laughing their heads off.

"Now what do we do?" I said in a slightly panicked voice.

"We'll ask a guard," my brother replied, taking my hand reassuringly. We soon found a guard and asked him where platform nine and three quarters was.

"Think you're so funny, don't you?" he scowled at us.

"Well, wh-where's the eleven o'clock train?" I asked with a dry mouth. The guard looked at me and then stormed off, muttering about troublemakers and time-wasters.

"Ok, now what?" I said in a slightly hysterical voice. The massive clock showed that it was ten to eleven and I was really starting to panic now.

"- packed with Muggles!" At the word 'Muggles', Harry and I whirled around to locate the source of the voice. The speaker was a redheaded woman with five boys and a girl but that wasn't what caught my attention - I was busy staring at the owl and thinking, _Witches and wizards! We're saved!_

_Come on, let's go ask them how to get onto the platform! _Harry added.

The two of us pushed our trolleys after them and my heart was pounding fiercely as we drew closer to hear what they were saying. They had paused near the barrier between platforms nine and ten and had started to talk again.

"Now, what's the platform number?" The woman sounded a little flustered.

"Nine and three quarters!" the little girl piped up. "Oh Mum, why can't I go?"

"You're too young, Ginny, so be quiet. Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy started pushing his trolley towards the barrier but just as he reached it, a crowd of tourists swarmed in front of him and by the time they were gone, the boy had disappeared.

"Ok Fred, you go next."

"I'm not Fred, he is!" one of the twins said. "You call yourself our mother?"

"Oh sorry, George dear."

"Just joking, I am Fred!" And with that, he set off towards the barrier. I watched him closely as he approached but he suddenly vanished!

_Where'd he go?_ Harry muttered telepathically and I shrugged - if I was honest, it looked like he'd gone _through _the barrier! Well, considering that this was magic and all…

"George, go." Now the second twin was heading towards the barrier and just as he reached it…he was gone!

"Harry!" I said. "I think we have to go _through _the barrier!"

"I think we should be sure," Harry replied and I nodded, so we approached the woman, youngest boy and girl.

"Excuse me!" Harry said.

"Oh, hello!" the woman smiled. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron here's starting too." She gestured to the boy and I smiled at the little girl, who smiled hesitantly back.

"Yes," my brother said. "Except we don't know how - how -"

"How to get onto the platform?" Harry and I nodded. "Oh, well all you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten."

_I thought so, _I nodded to myself.

"Don't stop and you mustn't be afraid that you'll crash - if you're nervous, you'd best run. Go now, before Ron."

I turned to face the barrier and gulped; it sure didn't look very magical to me. However, not wanting to be thought of as a coward in front of this woman, her son and daughter and Harry, I walked towards the barrier and then sped up, so that I was running. My eyes were clamped shut tightly and I found myself chanting mentally, _I'm going to crash! I'm going to crash!_

But that wasn't the case - I felt a strange sensation and when I opened my eyes, I had made it! I looked around in awe, my mouth hanging open as I drank in my surroundings. There was a large red train belching out steam and the platform was packed with people, animals and trunks.

"That was amazing!" I heard Harry exclaim behind me and I turned to see that he had just burst through the barrier and was panting happily.

"Come on, let's go find a compartment," I grinned and so we pushed our trolleys along the platform, searching for an empty compartment.

"Gran, I can't find Trevor again!" I heard a boy say and then his grandmother sighed and I caught his name: Neville.

Another boy we passed was surrounded by boys and he had a large box in his arms from which, when he opened it, a large hairy leg popped out. I shivered and moved a little closer to Harry.

Soon we found one and Harry tried to lift his trunk into it but to no avail. Even when I tried to help him, we couldn't lift it and it eventually resulted in a sore toe and a lot of swearing on Harry's part.

"Where did you get those words?" I blinked, amazed at what was coming out of my brother's mouth.

"Where do you think?" he muttered, clutching at his foot.

"Need a hand?" I turned to see who had spoken and saw that it was one of the redheaded twins we had seen at King's Cross.

"Yes, please," I nodded.

"Oi, Fred! Get over here and help me!" the boy called and his twin popped up. With their help, our trunks, Rowena and Hedwig were safely stored in the compartment.

"Thanks," Harry smiled, moving his sweaty hair out of his eyes and exposing his scar. The twins' eyes popped.

"It can't be!" one of them gasped. "Are you Harry Potter?"

"Um, yes, I am," Harry said, uncomfortable under their reverent gazes.

_Tough luck, Harrykins, _I grinned at him but that grin faded when the twins turned to me and one said, "So you must be Olivia Potter, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded slowly, shifting nervously. The twin who had spoken reached out and gently flicked aside my hair to reveal my own scar.

"Harry and Olivia Potter!" the second twin said, awestruck. "Who would've guessed?" Just when I started to think of ways to get away politely, we heard a voice call, "Fred! George!"

"Coming, Mum!" After one last look at me and Harry, the twins disappeared into the crowd and I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

_Well, that was…interesting,_ Harry said and I snorted. Once we were settled in the compartment, I announced that I was going to walk around and try to make some friends.

"Ok, well you know where I am," Harry said and I nodded and exited the compartment. After walking around for a bit, I saw a compartment with two people already in it - a boy and a girl who looked about the same age, both with black hair. The boy was immersed in a book and the girl was just looking out the window.

"Hi," I said, opening the door. The boy and girl looked up and I saw that they both had identical bright blue eyes.

"Hey!" the girl beamed. "I'm Sophia Young."

"And I'm Dex, her older brother," the boy grinned.

"Really? I have a twin brother, you know," I smiled as Sophia gestured for me to sit down.

"What's his name?" she asked. I grew a little nervous at that; how would these two react to our names?

"Well, he's Harry Potter," I confessed. Both Dex and Sophia looked at me in interest.

"Really? Then you must be Olivia Potter!" Dex said and I nodded.

"Call me Liv if you want," I murmured.

"Wow, did you know that you and Harry are in quite a few books?" Sophia added. "But you still don't seem as amazing as the books make out - I guess if you've grown up hearing about someone, you tend to be a bit more, well…"

"Idiotic," Dex supplied. "Soph and I are Muggle-born, so we didn't know about you until I was told - Muggle-born means that our parents are Muggles and we didn't know about all of this until a month before I went to Hogwarts, which was last year."

"Same here," I said.

"Really?" Sophia said. "Did your guardians not tell you? I would have thought that they'd tell you - unless they didn't know either, of course."

"Hmm." I neither confirmed nor denied it. "Do you have any other magical relatives?"

"No, not as far as we know," Dex sighed. "We were the only two to have weird things happen to us." We sat in silence for a bit, until the train started to move and Dex said, "Do you want something to read?"

"Please," I said gratefully, so Sophia pulled out her copy of _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _and handed it to me.

At about noon, a plump witch with a large trolley opened our door and said, "Anything off the trolley?"

"No thanks, we've got some sandwiches and salad," Sophia said, shaking her head. I jumped up, my moneybag out, and I exited the compartment, ready to stock up on every type of sweets I could - but the lady didn't have the sweets I was expecting. What she did have were Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes and heaps more.

"I'll have some of everything, please," I said, handing over the money and dumping the sweets on the seat next to me. Dex and Sophia stared.

"Wow," Dex gaped. "Even our cousin John doesn't eat that much!" Looking back at the pile, I realised that I may have bought a bit too much…

"Want some?" I offered.

"Oh no, we couldn't do that!" Sophia said.

"Please, I insist," I said firmly. "I'll never finish this all!" Grinning widely, Dex reached over and stole some Chocolate Frogs and Liquorice Wands.

"Thanks," he said, opening a Chocolate Frog.

"Wow, I've never seen this sort of stuff before!" Sophia said in fascination, examining a Pumpkin Pasty. Just when she'd taken a bite, the compartment door opened and two people stood in the doorway: a round-faced boy with tear tracks on his cheeks and a bushy-haired girl with large front teeth.

"Have any of you seen a toad? Neville here's lost his," the girl said in a bossy voice.

_So that's the Neville I heard on the platform! _I thought.

"No, sorry," Sophia said apologetically. "Do you want us to help?"

"Oh, yes please!" Neville said happily so the three of us stood up and left the compartment with them.

"By the way, I'm Hermione Granger," the girl said to us as she opened a compartment door. "Excuse me, have any of you seen a toad? Neville's lost it." The inhabitants were the blond boy that Harry and I had seen in Diagon Alley, two thickset boys, a pug-faced girl, a black boy and a weedy boy.

"You brought a _toad_?" the blond boy laughed and Neville went pink. He then caught sight of me.

"I saw you and your brother in Diagon Alley, didn't I?" he said interestedly.

"Unfortunately," I muttered but out loud, I said, "Yeah, Madam Malkin's, wasn't it?"

"Indeed. I'm Draco Malfoy. And you are?"

_Well, he's going to find out sooner or later, _I thought and I said, "Olivia Potter. And this is Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Sophia Young and Dex Young." But Draco Malfoy wasn't listening after my name.

"Are you? Well, that boy must have been Harry Potter, wasn't he?" He stood up and eyed Neville, Hermione, Dex and Sophia like they were scum. "Well, Longbottom's almost a Squib and I don't know the names Granger and Young - are your parents wizards?" Dex, Sophia and Hermione shook their heads. "I thought so - I could recognise a Mudblood anywhere. You don't want to hang around the wrong people, Olivia. I can help you there." And he held out his hand.

"I think I can tell who the wrong people are myself, thank you," I said coldly, noticing Dex's face. "I'd rather be friends with a - Mudblood, was it? - than you." Malfoy went pink.

"Be very careful, Potter," he said. "Or else you and your brother will go the same way as your mummy and daddy." I clenched my fists and would have punched him but Hermione held me back, hissing, "No! We can't fight!"

"Come on, it's obvious they're not going to help," I said and we left the compartment and trudged further up the train.

"Are you really Olivia Potter?" Hermione said and I nodded. "I've read all about you and Harry!"

"Yeah, Soph and Dex were saying that we were in a fair few books," I muttered, noticing how Neville was looking at me - well, he more than likely _had _grown up listening to tales of me and Harry.

"Excuse me, have any of you seen a toad?" Hermione said as we reached another compartment. "Neville here's lost his." I got a pleasant surprise when I saw that it was Harry that Hermione was talking to, along with the redheaded boy we'd seen at King's Cross.

_Hiya, Harry! _I thought, grinning.

_I see you've made a fair few friends, Liv, _Harry replied.

"No, we told him that we haven't," Harry said out loud but Hermione wasn't listening - instead, she was looking at the wand in the redheaded boy's hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic?" Sophia said eagerly, also staring at the wand. "Can I see? Dex is being mean and won't show me any." She punched Dex on the arm and then entered the compartment and sat down, Hermione following. The boy looked a bit taken aback.

"Ok then." He cleared his throat. "_Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow_!" Nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione said. "It's not a very good one, is it? I've tried a few and they all worked for me, but I didn't know I was magical until I got my letter, my parents were ever so pleased, and so was I, it's the best school of magic there is, from what I've heard! I've learned all my books off by heart and I do hope it's enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, what're your names?" She didn't stop to take a breath.

"Ron Weasley," the redhead muttered.

"Harry Potter," my brother said.

"Oh, are you really?" Hermione said. "I know all about you and Olivia here!" Ron goggled at me when Hermione said that, making me feel a little uncomfortable. "I got a couple of books for background reading and you're both in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!"

"Are we?" Harry blinked. _Are we really?_

_You really think she'd lie about this? _I answered.

"Oh, yes! By the way, these two are Dex and Sophia Young - they're Muggle-born, just like me."

"Hiya." Sophia smiled and gave a wave.

"Well anyway, I'm going to go and keep helping Neville search for his toad," Hermione said, standing up. "Are you three coming?"

"No, we might head back to our compartment, if that's ok with you two?" Sophia looked at Hermione and Neville questioningly.

"Yeah, thanks for helping anyway," Neville said quietly and he and Hermione disappeared.

"See you at Hogwarts, Harry," I smiled and Harry nodded with a return smile as Dex, Sophia and I left and returned to our compartment.

"Hey, what house do you think we'll be in, Soph?" I asked once we'd sat down.

"You know about the houses?" Dex looked pleasantly surprised. "Well, that'll save a lot of explaining!"

"I read _Hogwarts: A History_," I grinned. "Where else do you think I got the name Rowena for my cat from?"

"You named your cat Rowena?" Sophia snorted. "Well, that's a surefire wish for Ravenclaw, isn't it?"

"Yes, I'd prefer Ravenclaw but I don't think I'd mind Gryffindor," I nodded.

"Well, I'm a Gryffindor but I think I'm more of a Ravenclaw," Dex said.

"Nerd!" Sophia coughed.

"Are you alright, Soph?" Dex asked in mock-concern. "You don't sound too well!"

"I'm perfectly fine, thanks," Sophia said with an innocent smile.

A few hours later, it started to grow dark outside and Dex left the compartment so that Sophia and I could change and we did the same for him. Just as Sophia and I re-entered, a voice sounded over a speaker:

"_We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be collected for you."_

"I'm going to find Harry!" I said and before Dex or Sophia could say anything, I bolted out, down to Harry and Ron's compartment and I burst in.

"Harry! Harry! We're nearly there!" I squealed.

"Well, I'm glad you're so excited," Ron muttered and I shot him a look.

"You could be a bit more polite, you know!" I said and then Ron looked up and saw me. His mouth fell open and his face went bright red.

"Olivia!" he said in a strangled voice. "I didn't - I thought you were that Hermione girl - I'm sorry!"

"'That Hermione girl' is my friend and you should be polite to everyone, regardless of whether they're famous or not," I said coldly. "Anyway, I'm going to go back to where I'm obviously appreciated because of me, not my fame." And with that, I turned and strode out of the compartment, although I didn't miss Ron's, "What's her problem?"

"Back so soon?" Dex said dryly as I shut the door behind me.

"Well, Ron Weasley was being a bit of a prat," I muttered, sitting down. "He thought I was Hermione and was rude and then when he realised that I was Olivia, he went all tongue-tied."

"Fans," Sophia sighed just as the train stopped. "Come on, Liv!" She pulled me out of the compartment and I mouthed, 'Save me!" to Dex, who just smiled innocently and waved.

Once Sophia had succeeded in pulling me out of the train, we milled around cluelessly, wondering what to do.

"Now what?" Hermione popped up beside me and Sophia so suddenly that we jumped.

"Hermione! Don't do that!" I said weakly.

"I'm so sorry! Did I frighten you?" Hermione babbled, clearly afraid that I was mad at her. Sophia suddenly burst out laughing.

"Your face - it was _priceless_!" she hooted and I shot her a glare.

"Thanks for that," I said in a withering voice. "And no, Hermione, you didn't scare me, you just shocked me."

"Oh, that's good! I was afraid that you'd be mad at me!" Hermione said in relief.

"It's cool," Sophia grinned.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" I heard a familiar voice call and I grinned.

"Come on!" I pulled Hermione and Sophia into the crowd, towards the voice, and I soon saw a huge figure.

"Firs' years over here! Alrigh' Harry, Liv?" I saw Harry a few feet away with Ron and my brother waved back to Hagrid.

"Fine!" I called, waving too.

"Ok, firs' years follow me!" We followed Hagrid along a narrow path and, looking at how dark it was on either side of us, I guessed that we were trekking through a forest. Neville sniffed a few times and Sophia and I started comforting him.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec!" Hagrid informed us and he was right; around the next bend, the path widened onto the shore of a lake and on the opposite side was a huge castle.

_Whoa! _I thought, gaping at the castle in awe.

_I know, it's a bit like that, isn't it? _Harry said to me.

"No more'n four ter a boat!" Hagrid told us, pointing at a small fleet of boats in the water. Sophia and I scrambled into one and we were followed by Hermione and Neville.

"I still can't find Trevor," Neville said in a small, sad voice.

"He'll show up, don't you worry!" Sophia said confidently.

"Right - FORWARD!" And so that boats moved forward, sliding smoothly across the sheet of glassy water towards the castle.

_This is amazing! _I thought happily, watching the rippling water.

"Duck yer heads!" Hagrid called and I saw that we were approaching a curtain of ivy, so the four of us bent our heads. Once past it, we docked at an underground harbour and clambered out onto the pebbly shore.

"Oi! Whose toad is this?" Hagrid said, holding up a toad.

"Trevor!" Neville said happily, accepting the toad.

"I told you so!" Sophia smirked triumphantly.

"Follow me!" We followed Hagrid out of the harbour and up onto a grassy spot, just outside the castle. He led us up to the oak front doors, raised a fist and knocked twice.

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**Done! Ok, so don't expect an update for at least a week and once the next update comes, the poll will be gone too. And I've just come back from a job interview (which might also slow updates, if I get the job), so reviews would be nice! **


	5. The Sorting Hat

**A/N: Hiya! Well, first off, Em has decided to break off and leave this story entirely to me. She's got her own story and along with school and this, she's feeling the burn of overload :( She'll still give me ideas but she won't actually write anything. There is also an important A/N at the end to read!**

**DivineOrder: Ah, now I understand what you meant :) Well, she could go to both but the poll will speak for me!**

**MsPaigeMeadows: Aw, thanks :) Em's very grateful for the dress thing by the way, she should have messaged you back by now! Yeah, that's actually why I introduced the telepathic thing here - it failed in Harry and Sophie (since they barely used it) and Em was against having it here but we originally planned to send Liv to Ravenclaw before the poll (so as to be original), so she agreed. Hmm, well I would put her with Neville but that failed last time and all… **

**12141998: Well, I wrote Harry and Sophie and was all happy about it, until I realised that I was going nowhere with it; Sophie was a Mary Sue, Harry was a doofus and background character (in a way), I was being totally unoriginal and word-for-word and I didn't feel a connection with it. So Em agreed to help me start over and co-author with me and this is the result!**

**SophiaLily1980: Yeah, I still have a little twinge of word-for-word, so I can't totally change things but I change them enough to make them my own content -_-**

**secretbear1: Thank you :)**

**ElAmorNuncaMuere-LoveNeverDies: Drat, so two people have guessed my pairing! Le sigh…well then, I hereby dub them Lex! You'll have to wait and see when it happens though! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I may own my Pottermore Ravenclaw acceptance letter (and Em her Slytherin letter) but I certainly don't own Harry Potter, the song or McGonagall's speech.**

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The doors swung open straight away and an elderly woman stood there, wearing an emerald cloak. Her grey hair was in a tight bun and her face was set in a stern expression.

_She's definitely not someone to annoy! _I thought and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Here're the firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said proudly.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take it from here," Professor McGonagall said, pulling the doors open further, and Harry's and my mouths dropped when we caught sight of the hall.

_The Dursleys' whole house _and _backyard could fit in there! _Harry thought. I was too stunned to even nod.

Professor McGonagall gestured for us to come inside and we all flooded in, looking around at the marble staircase, fiery torches and high ceiling.

Behind a pair of double doors, I could hear the sound of hundreds of voices talking and I guessed that the rest of the school was there. I thought that we were to follow Professor McGonagall into there, but instead, she led us to a small chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "The feast will soon start but you must first be sorted into your houses. The Sorting Ceremony is extremely important because while at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. You will attend classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitories and spend your free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each has its noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While here, any triumphs will earn house points, while any rule-breaking will lose them. The house with the most points at the end of the year will be awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope that each one of you is a credit to your house." She gave us a stern look and I felt Neville gulp behind me.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few minutes. I suggest that you all straighten yourselves up as much as you can while you wait." She looked at Ron's nose, which was still smudged, and Neville's cloak, which he'd somehow managed to do up under his left ear. I smiled weakly when I saw Harry try to flatten his hair.

"I shall return to collect you when we are ready. Please wait quietly." With that, she left.

"Did Dex tell you how we're Sorted?" I said to Sophia.

"No," she muttered, scowling. "He just said that I'd find out soon enough."

"How do they Sort us?" I heard Harry ask Ron nervously.

"Dunno," he said. "Some sort of test, I think. Fred told me that it's really painful."

_A test? _Harry thought in panic. _But we're only first years! We don't know any magic yet! What the heck are we supposed to do?_

_Harry, stop making me more nervous than I already am! _I groaned mentally.

I looked around, my stomach full to bursting with nerves, and I saw that everyone else looked close to fainting too, except for Hermione; she was going on about every spell she'd learned so far and wondering which ones she'd need.

I tried desperately not to listen to her but I'd never, ever been this nervous, not even when Harry and I had to give my school report to our aunt and uncle, saying that we'd somehow turned our teacher's wig bright blue.

_Well, any moment now, Professor McGonagall will be back and we'll be walking to our doom, _Harry thought gloomily.

Suddenly, some people screamed and Sophia and I jumped.

"What the -?"

Everyone gasped as around twenty or so pearly ghosts flew through the wall behind us, conversing among themselves and barely glancing at us. They sounded like they were having some sort of argument.

"Forgive and forget, I say," a fat little ghost was saying to the others; he looked like a monk or a friar. "I think we ought to give him another chance -"

"Dear Friar, we've given Peeves an awful lot of chances already," a ghost in a ruff and tights said. "He shows all of us in a bad light and he's not even a ghost, really - oh my, what are all of you doing here?" He jumped and to me, it almost looked comical. None of us answered him.

"Oh, you're all new students! I suppose you're just about to be Sorted?" the Friar smiled. A few people nodded but no one said anything.

"I hope to see you in my old house!" the Friar said. "Hufflepuff!"

"Hurry along, the Sorting Ceremony will start in a moment," Professor McGonagall's sharp voice said and the ghosts floated out of the wall opposite the one they'd entered through.

"Get into a line and follow me," Professor McGonagall instructed us. As I got into line behind Sophia and in front of Hermione, my legs felt very heavy and I felt like I was going to fall through the floor. We all left the chamber and made our way across the hall and through the double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry and I gasped simultaneously; this was the most wonderful place we'd ever seen! Thousands of candles floated around and I saw four long tables, where the rest of the school was sitting. On the tables were plates and goblets that I was sure were made of real gold and at the top of the hall, the teachers sat at a fifth long table. We followed Professor McGonagall up to it and we eventually stopped, the teachers behind us and the students in front of us. Among the students, I could see the silvery forms of the ghosts. All the stares were making me feel even more nervous, so I looked up at the ceiling and got a shock. It looked exactly like the night sky!

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside!" Hermione whispered to me. "I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_."

As my eyes travelled back down, I saw Professor McGonagall put down a stool and, on top of that, a patched, pointed wizard's hat.

_Aunt Petunia would have a fit if she saw that! _I thought.

_But what's it there for? Maybe we have to pull a rabbit out of it or something! _Harry added.

I noticed that everyone was looking at it and for a moment, everything was dead quiet. Then a rip near the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing:

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The hall applauded loudly and the hat bowed to each table before stilling again.

"That absolute troll, Dex!" Sophia muttered. "I was worrying all day!"

"So we just have to try it on!" Ron said. "I'll kill Fred! He went on about having to take on a troll!"

_Well, the hat's a lot better than a troll but does it have to be public? _I thought weakly. _I mean, it's asking a heck of a lot! Brave…ready mind…cunning…right now, all I feel is sick. _I wished that there was a house for people who felt sick but I knew that everyone would have made it there. _Well…almost everyone, _I reasoned, looking at Malfoy's face.

_If Malfoy makes it into any house but Slytherin, I'll eat that hat, _Harry thought and I snorted to myself.

"When your name is called, you will sit on the stool and the hat will Sort you into your house," Professor McGonagall said, unrolling some parchment. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A small girl with blonde pigtails stumbled forward and put on the hat, which fell to her chin, and sat down on the stool. A moment later -

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat announced. The far right table cheered as Hannah ran to join them and I saw the Fat Friar wave happily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Susan scurried off next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left was the one that clapped now and a few Ravenclaws shook Terry's hand when he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" This time, it was the table on the far left that applauded and I saw Fred and George Weasley catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Looking over at the table second from the right, I got the feeling that they weren't a very nice bunch and I wanted more than ever to not go there.

_Yeah, I know the feeling, _Harry thought heavily.

"Crabbe, Vincent!"

"SLYTHERIN!" That just reinforced my observation.

I started feeling sicker than ever as I remembered Harry's and my experience with teams in primary school. We'd always been picked last; not because we were slow or unfit or simply not good - in fact, Harry was one of the fastest and fittest in the class - but because on one wanted Dudley to accuse them of liking us. I didn't care about sport but it still hurt all the same.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

I noticed that sometimes, the hat only took a second to decide but sometimes, it could take a few minutes, like with Seamus Finnigan, who went to Gryffindor after about a minute on the stool.

"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione bolted up to the stool and rammed the hat onto her head, prompting me to snort.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron groaned and as Gregory Goyle was Sorted into Slytherin, I was struck with a horrible thought - you know, the ones that strike when you're faint with nerves.

_What if I'm not chosen for a house and Harry is? What if I just sit there until Professor McGonagall takes the hat off and says that there was a mistake and I have to go back to the Dursleys? What would Harry, Hermione, Sophia and Dex think? How would I cope without Harry?_

_Liv, calm down! _Harry said and I struggled to get my breathing under control.

When it was Neville's turn to be Sorted, he tripped on his way up to the stool and after a few minutes of deciding, the hat declared him a Gryffindor. He made a beeline for the Gryffindor table but had to return to actually take off the hat and give it to the next person in line while the hall roared with laughter.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Malfoy strutted up to the stool and as soon as the hat touched his greasy hair, it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" Malfoy joined Crabbe and Goyle, looking very pleased.

There weren't a lot of people left to be Sorted. Jenna Moon, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson went to Slytherin, Padma Patil to Ravenclaw, her twin sister, Parvati, made it into Gryffindor and Sally-Anne Perks was declared a Ravenclaw. Finally -

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry gulped and made his way up to the stool, I heard whispers break out across the hall.

"Harry Potter?"

"_The _Harry Potter?"

"It is him! But where's Olivia Potter then?"

As Harry disappeared under the hat, I tuned into his thoughts to hear what the hat said.

"Hmm, quite difficult," I heard a small voice say to Harry. "Definitely lots of courage here, a good mind and a thirst to prove yourself…your loyalty to your sister is a Hufflepuff trait for sure…now, where to put you?"

_Not Slytherin! _Harry thought.

"Not Slytherin? Are you sure? You could be great in Slytherin! No? Ok, if you're sure…" I pulled out of my brother's mind then, just in time to hear the hat shout, "GRYFFINDOR!" As Harry took the hat off and staggered towards the Gryffindor table, I realised that he was getting the loudest cheer so far and the Weasley twins were chanting, "We got Harry Potter! We got Harry Potter!"

"Good luck, Liv!" Sophia whispered and I jumped slightly as I realised that I was indeed up next.

"Potter, Olivia!"

"Olivia Potter?"

"So she _is _here!"

"I wonder if she looks like her brother!"

Shaking, I made my way up to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall lowered the hat down onto my head and then, just before it went black, I saw everyone turning to look at me this time.

"Olivia Potter, hmm?" the small voice said. "Well, this shouldn't take too long…you have a better mind than your brother but not as much bravery, though that's not to say that you don't have any…you have the same loyalty to Harry as he does to you and you definitely have that same thirst to prove yourself…would you go to Slytherin?"

_No! Not Slytherin! Anything but that! _I begged and heard the hat chuckle.

"I thought as much. So let's see… I think you should go to GRYFFINDOR!" I heard the hat shout out my house to the hall and I raised one shaking arm, took the hat off and hurried over to the Gryffindor table, barely registering that the cheer was louder than before - I guess having _two _celebrities in your house is a cause for celebration.

"Excellent, Olivia," Percy Weasley said pompously, shaking my hand. "Welcome to Gryffindor, where you belong."

"Nice work, Liv," Harry smiled and I returned the smile, albeit weakly.

"Good for you, Olivia!" Dex grinned.

Looking up at the staff table, I met Hagrid's eye and he gave me the thumbs up, a small grin on his face. I returned the grin and, following the flash of silver I'd seen, I saw that it belonged to Albus Dumbledore's beard, which was the only thing in the hall that could potentially outshine the ghosts.

Next to Professor Quirrell, who was wearing a weird purple turban, I saw a hook-nosed teacher with greasy black hair and sallow skin.

Only five people were left to be Sorted. A black boy called Dean Thomas joined us Gryffindors, Lisa Turpin was made a Ravenclaw and then -

"Weasley, Ronald!" Poor Ron's face was a pale green sort of colour as he nervously approached the stool.

_It must suck to be near the end, _I thought sympathetically, crossing my fingers. There was no need to worry, though; a second later, the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry and I applauded loudly with the rest of the Gryffindors as Ron collapsed next to me.

"Good work, Ron!" I beamed.

"Excellent job," Percy said in a pompous voice.

"Young, Sophia!" As poor Sophia, the second last first year, stumbled up to the stool, I caught sight of Dex's face - he looked hopeful.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Dex's face lit up as Sophia sprinted over and sat down next to me, beaming widely.

"Yay, we're together, Liv!" she said. "But I can't believe that I have to share a house with a troll!" Dex mock-glared at her as Blaise Zabini made it into Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and removed the stool and Sorting Hat.

Looking down at my golden plate, I realised how hungry I actually was. Sweets were all well and good but they didn't constitute a proper meal and I was absolutely starving.

Professor Dumbledore stood up, his arms opened wide. He looked like all of us being here was his dream come true.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he beamed. "Before we start our feast, I have a few words I'd like to say. They are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat down and as everyone cheered, I looked a little bemused and I didn't know whether I should laugh or not.

"Er - Percy? Is he - a little mad?" I asked.

"Mad?" Percy said. "Of course! He's completely off his rocker! But he's the best wizard in the world. Potatoes, Olivia?" My mouth fell open.

All of the dishes on the table were now heaped with food: roast chicken and beef, lamb and pork chops, sausages, bacon, steak, roast and boiled potatoes, chips, vegetables, sauce, gravy…all that and more. And, for some weird reason, peppermint humbugs.

My aunt and uncle hadn't exactly starved me and Harry - well, not our definition of starved - but we'd never been able to stuff our faces or eat as much as we wanted. Dudley had always eaten anything that we wanted, even if he didn't like it or was sick.

I heaped a little of everything except for the humbugs onto my plate and tucked in. I was in heaven!

"That looks wonderful," the ghost opposite me said sadly as he watched me spear a potato and pop it into my mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry, can't you -?"

"I haven't eaten for almost five hundred years," the ghost sighed. "I don't need to, being a ghosts, but I do miss it tremendously. I don't believe I've introduced myself, have I? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, at your service. I'm the ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"My brothers told me about you!" Ron said suddenly. "You're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"Yes, although I'd prefer Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, if you don't mind," Sir Nicholas said, sounding annoyed.

"_Nearly_ Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Hermione said curiously. Poor Sir Nicholas looked as if the conversation was far from where he wanted it to be.

"Like this," he replied in an annoyed voice. He pulled his left ear and his whole head swung off his neck and onto his left shoulder! Looking very proud at our stunned and disgusted faces, Nick replaced his head and said, "I hope you'll help us win the House Championship this year, all you new Gryffindors! We've never had a losing streak this long! Slytherin have claimed it for six years running and the Bloody Baron's almost unbearable - that's him over there, he's the ghost of Slytherin house."

I looked at the Slytherin table and saw the ghost of a man with blank eyes and silvery blood on himself, sitting next to Malfoy. I was pleased to see that the prat didn't look very happy with where he was sitting.

"How'd he get all that blood on him?" Sophia said.

"I've never asked him," Nick replied.

"And don't try - I heard Fred and George did once and he chased them all over the castle," Dex grinned and Fred and George beamed proudly.

Once my stomach was full to bursting, the food disappeared and was replaced with every type of dessert imaginable - far too many to name. As I took a bit of trifle and some strawberries, the conversation arrived at family.

"Me dad's a Muggle but Mam's a witch," Seamus Finnigan said. "Mam waited until after the wedding to tell him - he got a bit of a shock, I can tell you!"

"What about you, Neville?" Sophia asked as everyone laughed but I frowned. Obviously, Aunt Petunia was bitter over not being a witch like Mum - Seamus was lucky that his dad didn't take it in a bad way!

"Well, my gran raised me and everyone in my family's magical but they thought that I wasn't for years," Neville said. "Great-Uncle Algie kept trying to get me to show some signs of magic - once, he even pushed me off Blackpool Pier but I didn't drown - but when I was eight, he was hanging me out of the windows by my ankles and accidentally let go when Great-Aunt Enid offered him a lemon meringue. But I bounced onto the road, I wasn't hurt at all. Gran almost burst into tears, she was so proud. That's why Great-Uncle Algie bought me my toad."

I tuned into a conversation between Hermione, Dex and Percy Weasley, who were talking about lessons.

"I'm very interested in Transfiguration," Hermione was saying.

"Well, you'll just start off turning matches into needles," Percy replied.

"But in Charms, you spend quite a bit of time on wand movements and notes before actual spells -" Dex added.

"I like the sound of Charms," I interjected and Percy smiled widely.

"Oh yes, Charms is very important. It's quite handy to have a good score in it - a lot of jobs ask for Charms. Then again, all the other subjects are also very important - I guess it's just about what you want to do when you leave."

Nodding, I looked up at the staff table to see Hagrid downing his goblet of drink, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore in a conversation and Professor Quirrell talking to the hook-nosed teacher.

"Argh!" Harry muttered, rubbing his scar and looking away from the two teachers. I winced and rubbed my scar as I felt it burn too.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Sophia frowned.

"Nothing…"

"Liv?"

"Same."

_Harry, what happened?_

_I was looking at that teacher with the greasy black hair and my scar started hurting!_

Frowning, I looked up at the teacher, who met my eyes. I saw something flash in them and then he turned away, grimacing.

_Well then… _

"Percy, who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked.

"Oh, so you and Olivia already know Professor Quirrell? That's Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house - he teaches Potions but everyone knows that he really wants the Defence position. He does know quite a lot about the Dark Arts."

I kept my eye on Professor Snape but he didn't meet my gaze again, leaving me to wonder exactly what that expression in his eyes had been.

Hatred? No, I know hatred when I see it. Dislike, at least? Possible. No, I was sure that it was recognition - somehow, I got the feeling that he knew me but I didn't know how. Maybe I reminded him of someone? Just then, the desserts vanished and Professor Dumbledore stood up again, silencing the hall.

"Now that our bellies are full, I would like to say a few words. First years should know that the forest outside is forbidden, hence the name the Forbidden Forest. A few of our older pupils should remember that too." His eyes twinkled in the direction of Fred and George Weasley, who beamed proudly again.

"Mr Filch has asked me to remind you that there should be no magic used in the corridors - failure to stick to this rule will incur a small loss of points.

"Quidditch trials will start next week - if you are interested in trying out, please contact Madam Hooch.

"Lastly, the third floor corridor on the right is forbidden this year - anyone not wishing for a painful death would do well to remember that." Harry and Sophia laughed but they were only one of few.

"He can't be serious!" I gasped.

"He must be," Percy frowned. "What's strange is that we usually receive a reason as to why we are not allowed somewhere - everyone knows that the forest is inhabited by dangerous animals. You would think that he would at least tell us prefects."

"Let us sing the school song before we all go to bed!" Professor Dumbledore announced and I snorted quietly when I noticed that many of the teachers' smiles now looked pasted onto their faces.

Professor Dumbledore flicked his wand and produced a long golden ribbon, which flew up into the air and formed large words.

"Everyone pick a tune and sing along!" Dumbledore cried. And so all of us bellowed:

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

All of us finished singing at different times and finally, the only two people left singing were Fred and George, who had adopted a tune suitable for a funeral. Dumbledore used his wand to conduct them for the rest of the song and wiped his eyes when they'd finished.

"Music! What a magic!" he beamed. "Now, off you trot to bed!"

We Gryffindor first years followed Percy out of the Great Hall (after squeezing through the crowd) and we climbed marble staircase after marble staircase, passed portrait after portrait (I was far too sleepy to be surprised at the fact that they moved) and went through hidden passage after hidden passage.

Just as Harry and I started a mental contest to see who could refrain from yawning the longest (it resetted after one of us yawned; so far, I was winning by one), we stopped suddenly.

A group of walking sticks were hovering in midair and when Percy stepped towards them, they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves the poltergeist," Percy sighed to us. "Show yourself, Peeves!"

An extremely rude sound replied, not unlike the noise a balloon makes when losing its air.

"Do you want me to get the Baron involved?"

With a pop, a naughty-looking man appeared cross-legged in the air, holding the walking sticks.

"What fun!" he grinned. "Ickle firsties to terrorise!" He flew at us and we all ducked.

"Go away or I'll tell the Baron!" Percy threatened. Peeves stuck his tongue out and dropped the sticks on Sophia, who shrieked. As he flew off, we heard the coats of armour shake.

"Peeves is someone you should definitely look out for," Percy informed us as we continued along the corridor. "He'll only ever listen to the Bloody Baron - not even us prefects or the Head Boy and Girl can control him. We're here."

We'd stopped at the end of the corridor, in front of the portrait of a very fat, pink-clad woman.

"Password?" she said lightly.

"Caput Draconis," Percy answered and the portrait swung forward on hinges to show a hole in the wall, which we all clambered through - Sophia had to help Neville in - and we were in the Gryffindor common room.

_This is amazing! _I thought in wonder, looking around.

_I know!_

Percy showed us where our dormitories were and after climbing a spiral staircase, we found our beds - they were large four-posters with rich red velvet curtains and scarlet blankets. I, along with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Hermione and Sophia, only had enough energy to change into my pyjamas and collapse into bed, where we fell asleep instantly and I had the weirdest dream.

Harry and I were side-by-side, both wearing Professor Quirrell's turban (which had doubled for us both to wear) and they were telling us that we had to transfer to Slytherin - it was our destiny.

_But we don't want to be in Slytherin! _Harry and I told them but they grew heavier and tightened when we tried to take them off. Malfoy suddenly appeared, laughing at us, and his laugh turned into the high, cold laugh we'd heard in our nightmares before. A burst of green light and I bolted upright, sweating, panting and trembling. The next day, however, I had completely forgotten about it.

* * *

**Yep, Gryffindor won! The results are: Gryffindor - 9 and Ravenclaw - 7.**

**Ok, one major change with this from canon will be the Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione relationships. Em says (and I agree) that Harry/Ginny is pretty unnatural - one minute, she's Ron's little sister and the next, he's all of a sudden attracted to her. **

**As for Ron/Hermione…no couple fights THAT much. Well, not in our opinion. So, I'll be doing a Harry/Hermione pairing here (though Ron will still like her in GoF and be jealous of Krum) and you guys can suggest pairings for Ginny - Em and I are still debating about Ron!**


	6. The Potions Master

**A/N: Sorry, you guys are in for a LONG rant but I need to get it off my chest: I'm writing this chapter to occupy myself because I'm really not in the best of moods today, thanks to the midget bitch in my year (naming no names) who seems to have made it her mission to make my life hell for months now. She constantly says bitchy stuff to me, like:**

**- 'I only treat you like this because I hate you!'  
- 'Just shut your mouth, ok?'  
- 'Don't pick on her because I'm picking on you!' - this one is when I asked another popular girl to get this bitch to stop.**

**And today, she even threatened to push me down the stairs because I was walking down them slow (but people in front of me were being slow). **

**Does this sound like bullying to you guys? Only I've been bullied, excluded and/or nearly friendless ever since I started school (seriously, since five freaking years old) because I'm a nerd and it stopped two years ago and I really don't want to face it again. I am THIS close to reporting her to my year advisor but I don't want to be called a dobber.**

**Ok, since I've had this long rant and there's really no questions in reviews to be answered, I'm just going to say thank you to everyone, post this and vent to my mother and Em, maybe even cry afterwards (because seriously, I am about to but I'm in a public place at the time of writing this).**

**Disclaimer: I own the bad mood I'm in but unfortunately, not Harry Potter or the speech Snape makes.**

* * *

"Look!"

"Over there!"

The girl with the red hair?"

"Where's her brother?"

"Next to the tall redheaded boy!"

"Did you see their scars?"

"Olivia Potter's isn't in the middle of her head, is it?"

That and more was what followed me, Sophia, Hermione and a happy Neville the next day when we left Gryffindor Tower - as long as Harry was hanging around that rude redhead Ron, I would stay away. I did wish that everyone would just leave me and Harry alone, though, because we were trying to get to class.

According to _Hogwarts: A History_, there were over a hundred moving staircases; some were narrow, while others were wide and some even had vanishing steps, which poor Neville always got stuck in - Sophia, Hermione and I would have to pull him out.

The doors were the most annoying; you had the normal ones but then some needed to be tickled or asked politely (a feat which I would be amazed by if Malfoy did it) and some were just walls pretending to be doors - Sophia, Hermione, Neville and I got many a bruised nose.

Also, everything moved around, so it was hard to know exactly where you were - the portraits kept visiting each other just when we needed them as guides and _Hogwarts: A History _said that the suits of armour could walk.

The ghosts weren't much help; I'd got a nasty shock when I opened a door once and a ghost flew right out and through me. Nick was delighted to help us Gryffindors out but Peeves was possibly the most annoying thing to exist, especially if you were running late for a class.

Although Peeves was annoying, there was someone far worse than him: Filch the caretaker. Harry told me that he and Ron had already crossed him by trying to get through the locked third-floor door, not realising where they were. Filch was threatening to tan their hides when Professor Quirrell rescued them.

Just like I had Rowena, Filch had Mrs Norris, though she wasn't nearly as nice or pretty as my kitten. Her fur was the colour of dust, her eyes reminded me of two luminous lamps and she was very skinny. She worked alone but if you broke one tiny rule in front of her, she'd bolt for Filch, who'd materialise next to you a second later. Everyone yearned to kick Mrs Norris but Hermione was horrified when Sophia expressed that wish.

"That's totally barbaric!" Hermione gasped.

Once you actually managed to stumble into the lessons later (cough Harry and Ron cough), class began. Hermione and I used to think that magic consisted of waving a wand and chanting, "Abra Kedabra!" but there was far more to it and the both of us were very interested.

Astronomy meant that we had to get up at midnight every Wednesday, trudge to the Astronomy Tower and look through our telescopes, jotting down the names of stars and planets and their movements through the heavens.

Herbology was also a class with no wands but it was interesting in its own way. A plump, cheerful witch called Professor Sprout taught this class and we learned about all the different types of magical plants, what they could be used for and how to care for them. Neville excelled at this subject, something that Sophia and I were quick to encourage.

"See, you're not hopeless!" I said and he grinned shyly. Hermione was miffed that someone was better than her at something but I knew she'd come around (eventually).

If ever there was a class that I hated, it was History of Magic. I thought that I'd love History when I got to Hogwarts but it was taught by a ghost. Now, that would have been ok with me if he wasn't so darn boring! He just droned on and on in a monotone and we were expected to take notes. Hermione was the only one who could resist his voice and in exchange with sharing all my notes with her to compare, she let me borrow her History ones and rewrite them in my own words, which I would show to Harry, Sophia and Neville if they needed them - I still didn't like Ron all that much.

My thoughts at the feast were right: I loved Charms! Professor Flitwick, who taught Charms, was absolutely tiny - he only reached my torso! He had to use a pile of books to see us over his desk and he started our classes by calling the roll. When he got to Harry's name, he squeaked excitedly but when he called mine out, he fell off his books and had to climb back up, earning sniggers from around the class.

I was right when I thought that I shouldn't annoy Professor McGonagall; she was strict yet very fair. As soon as we sat down and waited for the Ravenclaws to arrive (all our lessons were with other houses, which made sense since there were only about ten first years per house), she gave us a lecture that had poor Neville shaking.

"Out of all the different types of magic that you will learn, Transfiguration is some of the most dangerous and complicated, Anyone who does not follow my instructions and disrupts the class will leave and will not be invited back. Don't say I haven't warned you." Hermione was sitting upright with attention but when Professor McGonagall changed her desk into a pig and back, the bushy-haired witch started to bounce with excitement and my stomach had eager butterflies.

After being told that we wouldn't be doing animal transformations for a few years, Professor McGonagall had us all copy down some simple notes (though when I looked into Harry's head, I saw that he was a little confused and I ended up giggling mentally and explaining it to him) and then we were told to turn a match into a needle.

"This is easy!" Sophia grinned, turning her match into her needle on her second try.

"How do you do that?" Neville whispered as Hermione and I finally managed to mimic Sophia's results.

"Just visualise what you want to happen," Sophia replied and Neville screwed his face up but still couldn't do it.

"Sophia must just be gifted at Transfiguration," I said quietly. "Just like I am with Charms, you are with Herbology and Hermione…well, she's good at everything." Hermione beamed with pleasure, even more so when Professor McGonagall showed the class our matches and awarded us a point and a rare smile each.

The four of us had really been looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts (if I ever saw Voldemort, I'd want to be trained in it!) but Professor Quirrell was a massive joke. His room reeked of garlic (which Dex said, when we asked him later, was to supposedly keep the vampire he'd crossed away) and so did his turban, which he said was a gift from an African prince for ridding him of a zombie. I grew suspicious of this when Seamus Finnigan asked how Professor Quirrell had fought the zombie and the teacher reddened and mumbled something about nice weather outside.

Hermione and I nearly fainted with relief when we saw that we weren't behind the wizard-raised students (and Harry was quite happy about this too) - I mean, Hermione and I could beat Ron Weasley any day and he grew up with magic.

_Today is an important day! _I told Harry on Friday when he entered the Great Hall and sat down opposite me.

_Why?_

_You and Ron didn't get lost on your way down here! _He narrowed his eyes at me and Ron, Sophia, Hermione and Neville stared at me when I giggled.

_Oh, very funny._

"What the hell's going on? Are you two sharing some sort of inside joke?" Ron demanded when I stopped giggling.

"Liv and I have a mind link," Harry said. "We can hear each other's thoughts." The other four stared again.

"Bloody hell!" Sophia finally said.

"That's so cool!" Neville said.

"You'd better not use it to cheat in class!" Hermione said severely.

"Who asked you?" Ron said and Hermione sniffed and turned away as I glared at him.

"What've we got after breakfast?" Neville asked me to break the silence.

"Double Potions with Slytherin."

"Snape favours those jerks," Ron announced. "I heard that around the school - we'll be able to see for ourselves."

"My brother Dex could have told you as much," Sophia said. "He's that guy over there - he's more of a Ravenclaw though." Dex saw me and Sophia looking at him and he grinned, making us grin back.

"The house of the know-it-alls?" Ron said. Sophia gave him a severe look and stood up to move somewhere else, Hermione, Neville and I copying.

"I don't know what your brother sees in him!" Sophie muttered when we sat down.

"I'm sure he can be nice but is just really tactless," Neville said and I snorted.

"He seems to have a thing against smart people." I was cut off from saying any more when the mail arrived. I was used to it but I still got a pleasant shock when I saw the hundreds of owls swooping down, looking for their recipients and dropping the mail.

Harry hadn't gotten anything from Hedwig but she'd occasionally come to steal some bacon or toast before returning to the Owlery - sometimes, she even sought me out. Today, however, she flew down to Harry and dropped a note onto my brother's plate, which he opened, borrowed a quill and scribbled something. Hedwig then clutched the note and flew over to me.

"Both of us?" I said and Hedwig hooted as she nibbled some bacon. I opened the letter and read to myself:

_Dear Harry and Liv,_

_I know you get Friday afternoons off your lessons so why don't you two come down and have a cup of tea with me at three o'clock? I want to hear all about your first week at Hogwarts. Send an answer with Hedwig._

_Hagrid._

"Any of you want to come?" I asked.

"I'm not going if Ronald Weasley's there," Hermione replied at once.

"I don't think I'd be welcome there," Neville said quietly. I gave him a sharp look but he continued to eat his breakfast.

"What have I got to lose?" Sophia sighed, shrugging. I pulled a quill out of my pocket and turned the note over to see that Harry had scribbled _Yes please, see you later _already. I wrote _Ok, see you at three_, gave it to Hedwig and returned to my eggs.

I think Sophia was wrong about the whole 'Snape favours Slytherins' thing - after all, I wasn't a Slytherin and Potions was one of my favourite lessons. It was exactly the opposite for Harry though; where Snape liked me, he _hated _my brother.

The only thing I disliked about Potions was that the lessons were held in the dungeons, which were cold now but I knew they'd be freezing in a month or so. Professor Snape's classroom was full of glass jars containing pickled animals, which made Neville shiver.

Professor Snape took a leaf out of Professor Flitwick's book and took the roll when we'd all chosen our seats. Also, like Professor Flitwick, he stopped at Harry's name.

"Harry Potter," he said in a soft voice. "One of our new - _celebrities_." Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle laughed quietly as Harry glared and then Professor Snape paused at my name.

"And his sister, Olivia Potter," he said. "I hope you're as good as your mother was." I blinked, startled, but nodded and he continued. How did he know Mum? Were they friends at Hogwarts? If so, was that why he didn't dislike me - because I supposedly looked like her?

When Professor Snape had confirmed that everyone was here, he looked up, his obsidian eyes strangely cold, and made a speech.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." Like Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape had the ability to keep the class quiet without shouting or raising his voice. If I ever had kids one day, I hoped that I could learn that skill.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads I usually have to teach."

_That was an excellent speech until he called us dunderheads! _I thought, a little hurt. Sophia's eyes were narrowed, Neville was shaking slightly and Hermione was on the edge of her seat, wanting nothing more than to prove to Professor Snape that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Potter! If I mixed an infusion of wormwood with powdered root of asphodel, what would I get?"

"Which one, sir?" Harry said.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, there's me and Olivia and I was wondering which one you were talking to."

"If I was addressing your sister, I would say Miss Potter. A point from Gryffindor and answer my question."

_Infusion of what with powdered root of what? _Harry thought and I snickered mentally - I already knew the answer and apparently, so did Hermione, since she had raised her hand.

"I don't know, sir." Professor Snape sneered.

"Clearly, fame isn't everything. Miss Potter, do you know the answer?"

"Draught of Living Death, sir?" I said hesitantly. He blinked.

"Correct. One point to Gryffindor." The Slytherins looked stunned and the Gryffindors gaped, as did I. Wasn't Professor Snape supposed to favour _Slytherins_?

"Now, let's try again. Where, Potter, would you look if I asked you to get me a bezoar?"

"I don't know." Hermione's hand was even higher, if that was possible.

"Miss Potter?"

"The stomach of a goat, sit." _And in the supply cupboard, _I added mentally but didn't say it out loud - I didn't want to lose any favour I might have with him.

"Another point to Gryffindor. Why didn't you follow your sister's example and open a book before coming, Potter?" Harry glared at him again.

"Let's try one more time. Potter, what's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Hermione actually stood up after this, raising her hand to the ceiling.

"I don't know sir but I'm sure Liv and Hermione do, why don't you ask one of them?" A few people laughed but were silenced under Professor Snape's glare.

"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "Miss Potter, care to enlighten your brother?"

"Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant and can also be called aconite," I replied, smiling hesitantly - this teacher clearly liked me and I was no longer wary of him.

"One point to Gryffindor for another correct answer but a point from Gryffindor for Potter's cheek. Why aren't any of you copying Miss Potter's answers down?"

As everyone pulled out parchment and quills, I saw Malfoy glowering in my direction and I smiled sweetly at him, causing him to narrow his eyes.

After writing down a few more notes, Professor Snape told us to get into pairs and brew a Boil-Curing Potion. I partnered Sophia, who was right next to me, and Professor Snape paired Hermione and Neville with other people. He then prowled around the room, watching us prepare the ingredients and praise the Slytherins while insulting the Gryffindors.

"Miss Potter, these snake fangs have been crushed perfectly," he said as I ground the fangs. "All of you could learn something from her."

"Thank you, sir," I smiled and he nodded before moving on.

_How do you do that? _Harry thought incredulously.

_I don't know! He just likes me!_

Just as Professor Snape was praising Malfoy's stewed horned slugs, I heard a hissing sound and acid green smoke floated around the room. Neville had melted Seamus' cauldron and their potion was making its way along the floor, melting everything it touched. I screamed and jumped up onto my stool before it could touch me but Sophia's shoes were half-burnt before she could follow me.

"And those were my favourite shoes, too!" she groaned.

"Just be grateful it's not your feet!" I replied.

"You idiot!" Professor Snape said loudly, waving his wand to vanish the potion. "Why didn't wait until you took the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills?" Neville just whimpered in reply as his nose sprouted boils.

"Finnigan, take Longbottom to the hospital wing," Professor Snape ordered and then turned to Harry and Ron.

"Potter, why didn't you tell that boy not to put the quills in? Thought that if he messed up, you'd look good? Another point from Gryffindor."

_That's not fair! _Harry thought and went to open his mouth but shut it.

After Potions, I caught up with Harry.

"Harry, tell Hagrid that I'm sorry I can't come but Neville's had a Potions accident," I said and he nodded before resuming his conversation with Ron. I sprinted to catch up with Sophia and Hermione and together, the three of us managed to locate the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey (reluctantly) let us in.

"Neville! Are you ok?" Sophia said, running up to where he was sitting on a bed. He looked up and smiled happily.

"I'm fine! Madam Pomfrey cured them in two seconds but she's keeping me for a little longer to be safe. Shouldn't you be visiting Hagrid?"

"I'm sure he'll understand," I said. "I mean, I can visit him anytime but you're hurt right now." Neville's smile widened but then fell.

"I get the feeling I'm going to be in here a lot," he sighed.

"Well, we can't be good at everything," Sophia said reassuringly. "I mean, I'm not that good at Charms but I'm excellent at Transfiguration." Neville didn't really look happier.

_Hey Liv! _Harry said. _Take a look at this! _And he read out a newspaper article to me:

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. _

_Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon._

I gasped out loud and Sophia, Neville and Hermione stared at me.

"What?" Sophia said, so I told them about the article that Harry mentally read to me.

"Someone tried to break into Gringotts?" Hermione said, wide-eyed.

"And it happened on your birthday!" Neville added.

"I know," I frowned. _The vault in question had in fact been emptied the same day. _What did that mean? Were Hagrid, Harry and I there when it happened? If so, were they referring to the vault that we'd visited - 713? Well, Hagrid _had _technically emptied it - he'd taken that package. Where was it now? My mind was full of unanswered questions and, looking into Harry's mind, I saw that he wasn't any better off either.

* * *

**God, we watched The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and all I can say is…don't watch it. It's awesome but it ends on a cliffhanger and we never do find out why those birds attacked Melanie T_T**

**Oh, I got a review on my clutter account, Mana's Red Rose, for AU Time Turner Travels and the person said that Sophie/Neville was their favourite pairing and that's made me think a little, since I do love OC/Neville too…so I've set up a new poll, which will be in effect for two stories, and you'll get to choose between Dex or Neville for Liv's love interest. Ok?**


	7. The Midnight Duel

**A/N: Don't take advantage of these quick updates - when I'm in a bad mood, I retreat into writing and this was half-written when I woke up, so I thought **_**what the heck**_**. Anyway, so far the poll is 5 for Dex, 3 for Neville. I'll keep you guys updated about this regularly and also, the story stats. So let's see…as of now, I have 30 reviews, 16 favourites, 16 follows, 1045 views and 456 readers. You guys are amazing!**

**sstabeler: Glad to have a second opinion and thanks, I knew it. She's going to be dealt with, though!**

**dream lighting: Thank you :)**

**secretbear1: You go do that, and thank you :)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, do you really think I'd be getting a job at Woolworths?**

* * *

I used to think that no one could be worse than Dudley but that was before I knew Draco Malfoy existed.

The one light at the end of the tunnel was that Gryffindors and Slytherins only had Potions together…until that light turned out to be a train on Tuesday, when we read a notice in the common room saying that first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins had flying lessons together on Thursday.

"Great, I always wanted to look like an idiot in front of Malfoy," I said darkly.

"You don't know that you'll look like an idiot for sure," Hermione said briskly, making me snort.

"You clearly haven't seen me without my feet on the ground!"

"I don't think I'll be any good at it either," Neville said in a small voice. "Have you seen the number of accidents I've managed to cause on the ground?"

"Are you kidding? This is terrific!" Sophia beamed. "Ever since Dex told me that we can fly, I've been looking forward to it!"

"That makes one of us," I muttered.

"Did I hear someone say my name?" a voice said and we turned to see Dex grinning.

"How do you always turn up just when we don't need you?" Sophia sighed dramatically and Dex gave her a mock-hurt look.

"Well, I'm sure Olivia likes me!" he sniffed haughtily, pulling me away from Sophia, Hermione and Neville and hugging me close to him, making me feel uncomfortable. "Right, Liv."

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered.

"Aww, does ickle Dexie-wexie have a crush on Livvy-wivvy?" Sophia grinned evilly and I glared at her.

"Well besides, I bet half the stuff that Malfoy says is a load of bull," Hermione said quickly - I knew that she was trying to cover up her nervousness and shut Sophia up.

She was right though: Malfoy did brag a lot about flying. Half of this consisted of complaints about first-years not being able to make the team and the other half of stories where he always ended up escaping Muggles in helicopters.

"Do you even know what helicopters are?" Sophia challenged and he narrowed his eyes and hissed, "Shut it, Mudblood!" As he left, I noticed Neville's face turn red and his fists clench.

"What's up, Neville?" Hermione said.

"I can't believe he called Sophia - _that_!" he said in a low voice.

"What, Mudblood?" Sophia frowned and Neville hissed. "What's it mean?"

"It's the foulest thing you can call a Muggle-born," Neville told us, still looking furious. "It means dirty blood - basically, it means that Muggle-borns are below pure-bloods like me because they have Muggles for parents."

"That's horrible!" I gasped as Hermione's eyes sparkled with tears and Sophia got an ugly look on her face.

"Well, it doesn't matter!" she said. "We all know full well that we're better than Malfoy at anything!"

"And besides, you three are certainly better at Potions than me," Neville added - he appeared to be calming down.

"Malfoy only passes Potions because he's Snape's little favourite!" Sophia sneered.

"Well, Liv is also Professor Snape's favourite and she's actually good at Potions," Hermione pointed out.

"Ok, let's just drop it!" I said and we didn't speak about it anymore.

Even Ron Weasley bragged about flying; he said that he once hit a hang glider on one of his older brother's old brooms. Everyone from a wizarding background (Neville excluded) constantly went on about Quidditch (whatever the hell that was; when I asked Neville, he said it was a sport and explained the basic rules) and flying. In fact, the only other sane person I knew was Dean Thomas, who was an avid football fan.

Hermione, who definitely was as nervous as me and Neville, borrowed a book called _Quidditch Through the Ages _and droned on at breakfast about flying tips she'd gotten from it. Even though I was her friend, I had to admit that she was starting to bore me. In fact, only Neville was listening to her but that was because he seemed to be more nervous than me about flying. I was unconsciously tapping my foot and twirling my hair, a sure sign I was nervous.

Hermione finally stopped when the mail arrived, though I couldn't feel excited; neither Harry nor I had gotten a single letter after Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy noticed, of course. His family sent him sweets every day, which he would open, bragging loudly, and always made a point of sharing them around with his friends (if you can even use that word) noisily.

While Sophia got her weekly letter from home, Neville received a present from his formidable-sounding grandmother. It turned out to be a small glass ball full of white smoke, which Hermione, Sophia and I stared at.

"It's a Remembrall," he told us, answering our unasked question. "If you're forgetful like me, it tells you if you've forgotten something. If it goes red - uh oh…" Neville looked down sadly because it did indeed turn red, "yep…I've forgotten something. Only problem is that I can't remember what I've forgotten!"

While Neville was racking his brains, Draco bloody Malfoy just had to show up and snatch the Remembrall from Neville. Harry, Ron and Sophia jumped up, while I fingered my wand and resisted the urge to stand up like them. Luckily, Professor McGonagall showed up, preventing any fighting from happening.

"What is going on here?" she said sharply.

"Malfoy's got Neville's Remembrall, Professor!" I said quickly before Malfoy could get in. Scowling, the Slytherin handed it back to Neville.

"Just looking at it," he muttered and stalked off with Crabbe and Goyle.

Later that afternoon, we Gryffindors exited the castle and crossed the grounds to where we would be learning to fly. The Slytherins and Madam Hooch, the instructor, were waiting for us, along with twenty odd broomsticks.

"Hurry up! Stand by a broomstick!" Madam Hooch ordered when we arrived. She had short grey hair and yellow eyes, like a hawk.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson," she said. "Now, first things first, stick your right hands up above your brooms and say up."

"Up!" twenty voices chorused. Only two brooms actually flew up into someone's hands though; Harry's and Malfoy's.

"Up! Up!" After repeating the word up about five times, Sophia's broom finally drifted into her hand. Hermione's had rolled on the ground, mine had twitched upwards for a moment and Neville's hadn't moved.

_Maybe they can sense if you're scared, _I thought but was distracted when Ron's broom flew up and whacked him in the face, making me and Sophie burst out laughing and him glare at us.

When everyone finally had a hold of their brooms, Madam Hooch strode up and down, correcting our grips.

"Move your hands a bit further down, girl," she told me and I complied.

"But I want to be able to clutch my broom tightly when I nearly fall!" I whined quietly, making Sophia snort.

"Move this hand to here," Madam Hooch instructed Sophia, who shrugged and moved her hand. She and I exchanged grins when Madam Hooch told Malfoy off, saying that his grip had been wrong for years.

"When I blow my whistle, you will all kick hard off the ground," Madam Hooch said. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a foot or two and hover and then come down by leaning forward. On my whistle - three - two -"

But poor Neville, who was jumping with nerves beside me, accidentally kicked off early.

"Get back here, boy!" Madam Hooch yelled but Neville, like a bullet from a gun, was rising steadily and clutching the broom tightly, his face chalk-white.

"Neville!" Sophia and I shouted but it didn't help at all; in fact, when he looked down at us, he lost his grip and plummeted down to the ground, landing with a WHAM. Sophia, Hermione and I gasped as we heard a crack and the three of us sprinted over to Neville, who was lying on the grass, clutching his wrist.

"Neville, are you ok?" I said quietly as Madam Hooch bent over him and examined him, her face as white as ours.

"Course he's not ok, he's just taken a fall from a broom," she muttered.

"My wrist," Neville gasped, clutching at it.

"Broken wrist," Madam Hooch confirmed. "Come on, boy - two of these girls can help you, that'll leave my hands free to tell Madam Pomfrey. You and you -" she snapped at me and Sophia "- you can help him there." Nodding, Sophia and I bent down and gently helped Neville up as Madam Hooch told Hermione to stay behind and keep an eye on the class, before turning to everyone else.

"None of you will move or touch a broom while these girls and I take the boy to the hospital wing! If any of you lay a finger on a broom, I'll make sure you're out of here before you can say Quidditch. Come on, you three."

We made our way up to the castle with Madam Hooch leading. Neville was leaning on Sophia for support and the two of us had our arms around him as we helped him walk without falling over - let's face it, if I had a broken wrist, I'd probably be in too much pain to stay upright.

"I'm never getting on a broom again," Neville sniffed and I rubbed his back comfortingly.

"Oh dear, what happened?" Madam Pomfrey bustled over the moment we entered the hospital wing. "Did Mr Longbottom get hurt again?"

"Fell off a broom and broke his wrist," Madam Hooch said and Madam Pomfrey tutted as she helped Neville to a bed and turned to us.

"Shoo!" We hurriedly left and when we were out in the corridors, I turned to Madam Hooch.

"Madam Hooch, may I please be excused from this lesson?" I asked politely. "Only, I don't exactly like heights…and I have homework that I'd like to get done…"

"Just like Lily," I could've sworn I heard Madam Hooch mutter. "Very well, Miss Potter…mind you go straight to the common room though."

"Ok! Thanks!" I smiled at Sophia and hurried off towards the Gryffindor common room, not meeting anyone but Peeves, who tried to upend a garbage bin of chalk on my head and succeeded.

"What happened to you, Olivia?" Percy Weasley asked when I entered the common room, fuming.

"Peeves," I forced out, plucking out a piece of chalk and dropping it on the floor.

"Here - _Evanesco _." And the chalk disappeared.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. "What're you doing here anyway? I thought classes were on."

"I have a free period, so I thought that I'd make the most of the common room being quiet and get some homework done." He sounded a little pompous but I was intrigued as to the level of his classes.

"What are classes like for you?" I asked, sitting down next to him. "Everything's easy enough for me and Hermione, except History - I have to borrow her notes."

"Well, things are much harder for me." Percy seemed pleased to have someone he could brag to. "We have recently started vanishing mice in Transfiguration, which is harder than vanishing a snail because a mouse is a vertebrate. We have just finished brewing the Draught of Living Death in Potions and we have moved onto the far harder runes in Ancient Runes."

"Ancient Runes? What's that?"

"One of the electives you can take in your third year - I take Arithmancy, which is the study of numbers and numerology, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies, which is the study of how Muggles live."

"What else can you take?" I was thoroughly interested now.

"Well, you also have a choice of Care of Magical Creatures, which my older brother Charlie took, and Divination, which is basically trying to see the future."

"Cool."

At dinner, I filled Hermione in on everything that Percy had told me and she looked very happy.

"Oooh, Arithmancy sounds like maths!" she said happily, eating a piece of broccoli. "And Ancient Runes…that sounds _fascinating_!"

"Divination sounds cool," Sophia added, forking a potato. "I'd love to be able to tell the future."

"I heard that it's rubbish though," Dex said, wrinkling his nose. "I'm taking Care, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes next year."

_Hey, guess what, Liv?_

_What?_

_I made the Gryffindor Quidditch team!_

_WHAT?! _

_Yeah! _And so Harry proceeded to fill me in on everything that had happened in flying.

_Harry James Potter, you IDIOT! You could have broken your neck or another bone!_

_But I didn't, so what's the worry?_

_Honestly…_

"Harry made the Gryffindor Quidditch team!" I whispered to Hermione, Dex and Sophia, which had mixed results; Dex's mouth fell open, Sophia choked on her potato and as Hermione thumped her back, she said, "They didn't punish him? He broke the rules and could have injured himself and he gets a spot on a sport team?"

"Hey, I know how you feel," I said heavily. "Knowing him, he's going to break the rules again." Little did I know how right I was…

"What's Malfoy doing here?" I frowned, watching Malfoy and Harry talk and glare.

"I'll go and see!" Hermione moved up a few places and started to eavesdrop on their conversation. A minute later, she was back.

"They're going to have a wizard's duel!" she hissed.

"_What_?" Sophia, Dex and I exclaimed together.

"At midnight tonight, in the trophy room! Oh, they're breaking so many rules and we'll lose loads of points!"

"Calm down, Hermione," I said soothingly. "I think we just have to talk to them rationally and try to get them to see sense."

"You're right! I'm going to go talk to them!" And with that, Hermione stood up and moved over to them.

"Not what I had in mind," I muttered. "They already don't like her."

"I can't believe they're going to do it!" Hermione stormed, returning. "I'm going to tell Percy!"

"No! I don't care about Ron Weasley but I don't want my brother to get into trouble!" I said. "Please Hermione, at least wait until tonight and we'll do something then."

"Ok. But we can't let them get away with this!"

At eleven twenty five that night, Sophia, Hermione and I put on our dressing gowns and crept downstairs to the common room, where we sat down and Hermione pulled out a lamp but didn't light it. Five minutes later, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs in the boy's dormitory and saw two figures creeping to the portrait hole.

"I can't believe that you're doing this, Harry," Hermione said, turning the lamp on and frowning. Harry and Ron whirled around.

"_You three_!" Ron exclaimed in a furious voice. "Why don't you go back to bed?"

"Harry -"

"Liv, stop interfering!" Harry told me. "This isn't your fight!"

"I'm not going to stand by and let you get caught breaking rules!" I hissed, standing up and glaring at him - I dimly registered that this was probably the first fight we'd ever had.

"I almost told Percy - he'd certainly put a stop to this!" Hermione interjected.

_How can anyone be so interfering? _Harry thought and I glared at him.

"Come on, Ron," he finally said and they turned and exited the common room. Hermione and I followed, as did Sophia, albeit reluctantly.

"Don't you two care about Gryffindor? You only care about yourselves! Olivia, Sophia and I certainly don't want Gryffindor to lose points and Slytherin to win the House Cup! You'll lose us the points that Liv and I won for knowing about Switching Spells!" Hermione ranted quietly. Sophia had a resigned look on her face, like 'I-want-to-stay-out-of-this-but-it's-far-too-late-for-that'.

"Go away," Ron said rudely.

"Fine," I glared. "Just remember what we told you and don't say we didn't warn you tomorrow on the train. Have a nice time at the Dursleys', Harry." I instantly knew that was a low blow but I didn't care. Harry's only sign that he'd heard me was to clench his fists and start yelling at me mentally, until it was a full-blown argument.

"God, you're so -" But Hermione never finished her sentence; as I finally stopped fighting with Harry and turned with her and Sophia to go back inside the Gryffindor common room, we saw that the Fat Lady had disappeared on a night-time visit and we were locked out of Gryffindor Tower!

"Now what do we do?" Sophia moaned.

"Well, that's your problem," Ron said smugly. "That'll teach you not to poke your noses in other people's business." I narrowed my green eyes at him and clenched my fists. "Come on, Harry, we'll be late for the duel." As they set off, we three girls stayed where we were for a moment before hurrying to catch up.

"We're coming," Sophia declared.

"No, you're _not_."

"Do you really think we're going to wait around for Filch to catch us?" I laughed derisively. "If he finds us, Hermione, Soph and I will tell him that we were trying to stop you from duelling and were locked out of the tower."

_Just shut up, Olivia!_ Harry said. _I can't stand you like this - what'd Hermione do to you?_

Hermione, _do to_ me? I shrieked. _It's what _you've _done! You didn't even bother to stand up for me on the train when Ron was being rude, did you? You just let it go! Ron's possibly the rudest boy ever to exist but you don't care, do you, just because he's your friend! Newsflash: my friends don't feel the need to bully people smarter than themselves just because they're insecure! You're so concerned with having friends that you totally ignore how rude they are to your own twin! I would've thought, what with Dudley bullying us, you'd be against your little friend bullying a previously-friendless girl! You know what, why do I even bother? _And with that, I shut off and ignored him.

"Wow, that has to have been one major argument," Sophia blinked after a moment.

"Huh?"

"When you're all silent like that, it's kinda hard to not be able to tell."

"Shut up! I hear something!" Harry said and now that I concentrated, he was right (unfortunately) - it was a sort of snuffling noise.

"Is it Mrs Norris?" Hermione nearly squeaked, clearly terrified at being caught breaking rules.

"No, it's Neville!" Sophia beamed and as she and I ran forward, he woke up.

"Sophia! Olivia! Thank goodness you all found me! I couldn't remember the password for the common room so I've been out here ever since I got out of the hospital wing!"

"Shh, we can't be caught!" I whispered. "The password is Pig Snout but the Fat Lady's gone, otherwise Hermione, Soph and I wouldn't be stuck out here."

"How's your arm?" Sophia asked concernedly.

"It's fine! Madam Pomfrey healed it in about two seconds but kept me for a bit longer."

"Well, we have to go somewhere - see you -" Neville cut Harry off.

"Don't leave me alone!" Neville jumped up quickly. "The Bloody Baron's passed me twice already!" Ron looked down at his watch and then threw me, Neville, Hermione and Sophia a dirty look.

"If we get caught because of any of you four, I won't rest until I get revenge on all of you," he hissed and I reciprocated his dirty look.

_And you're going to let him get away with threatening your sister? _I hissed at Harry furiously and he looked sheepish but told us all to be quiet and moved forward.

I was so tense that I was expecting to run into Filch, Mrs Norris or a teacher around every corner but we got lucky and soon made it to the trophy room - Malfoy wasn't there yet. We moved along the walls, keeping our eyes and ears open in case Malfoy jumped out at us.

"Think he chickened out?" Ron said after about ten minutes. Just then, we heard a noise and all jumped; Hermione and I were clutching each other worriedly. We then heard a voice but it certainly wasn't Malfoy's.

"Look around, they could be hiding in the shadows."

_Damn it! _I cursed - it was Filch's voice. With a look of horror, Harry gestured for us other five to follow him and just as my long red hair whipped out of sight around the corner, I heard Filch enter the room we'd just been in.

"They're in here, sweet, lurking somewhere."

'This way!' Harry mouthed to us and, terrified out of our wits, we tiptoed down a gallery full of armour. We heard Filch gaining on us and Neville suddenly squeaked, tripped and clutched Sophia around the waist, making the both of them fall into a suit of armour - I was sure that the noise was enough to wake the dead.

"RUN!" I screamed and the six of us bolted, entering corridor after corridor, not even checking where we were going. We tore through a tapestry into a hidden passage and emerged near the Charms classroom, making me surprised at how much running we'd just done - the Charms corridor was a long way away from the trophy room.

"I'm sure we've lost him for now," Sophia gasped as I gulped in air and clutched at my side.

"We - told - you - so," Hermione wheezed.

"We have to get back to the common room _now_," Ron said.

"You were just played by Malfoy, you know," I glared at Harry. "He never intended to meet you - he blabbed to Filch, who would have caught you." I knew that Harry thought that I was right but, to my triumph, wouldn't tell me so.

"Let's go," he finally said but what do you know, we ran out of luck. A door suddenly burst open and Peeves, of all people, streaked out of the classroom in front of us. As soon as he saw us, he squealed happily.

"Peeves - please be quiet - we'll get into trouble!" Sophia pleaded but Peeves just laughed evilly.

"Walking around the castle this late, Ickle Firsties? You'll get caught now!"

"Not if you keep quiet, Peeves, please!" I begged, willing him to go away.

"I should tell Filch - it's for your own good, after all."

"Out of the way!" Ron snarled, swiping at Peeves.

"Ron, don't!" I cried but it was too late.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR! HURRY! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" Peeves roared. We flew past Peeves and sprinted for our lives to the end of the corridor but more bad luck struck - the door at the end was locked.

"No! We're done for!" Ron said.

"Dramatic much?" Sophia said, though she sounded terrified.

"Olivia, use _Alohomora _on the door!" Hermione shrieked in a slightly hysterical voice.

_Of course! _I pushed my brother out of the way, pulled out my wand, touched it to the lock and said, "_Alohomora_!" The door opened a crack and I pushed it open further - we all fell in and then shut the door and listened.

"Where did the students go, Peeves? Tell me!" Filch said.

"Say please."

"Don't annoy me, Peeves! Where'd they go? Answer me!"

"Won't say nothing unless you say please," Peeves said silkily.

"Fine - _please_."

"NOTHING! Ha! Ha haaaaa! HA! Told you I wouldn't say nothing unless you said please! Haaaaa!" We heard Peeves zoom away and Filch curse angrily and I turned and slumped on the door, before freezing in horror. Harry said something but I wasn't paying any attention.

"Harry?"

"I think we'll be ok, you guys."

"Harry!"

"Get off me, Neville!"

"HARRY!"

"WHAT, OLIVIA?"

"TURN AROUND, YOU IDIOT!" Harry turned around and froze on the spot, just like I did.

"I think we're in the forbidden corridor," Neville squeaked. Well, now we knew why it was forbidden - there was a massive three-headed dog looking at us. It had six mad eyes and three snarling mouths. It wasn't moving but I knew that it was because we'd surprised it but not for long - I didn't know about the others but I sure knew what its growls meant. Looking down, so as to not have to look at it, I blinked when I saw a trapdoor underneath two of its paws.

"Let's get out of here!" Sophia screeched and I felt Harry trying to turn the doorknob. The door opened and we all piled out of the room, slammed the door shut and ran for dear life, all the way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Where _have _you six been?" the Fat Lady said in astonishment.

"Don't worry - pig snout!" I wheezed and as the portrait opened, we all hurried into the common room and fell into chairs, breathing heavily and shaking. It was about ten minutes before any of us spoke - poor Neville looked as if he'd permanently lost his voice.

"What the hell are they doing, keeping that locked in a school full of kids?" Ron broke the silence. Unluckily for him, Hermione and I had recovered our breath and our bad tempers and even Sophia looked like she'd lost it.

"Clearly, those eyes in your head are incapable of seeing even the simplest things!" I snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"Because I did!" Hermione added and we both sent death glares at Harry and Ron.

"Uh - the floor?" Harry said. "I was focusing on its heads, like any sane person would."

"No, it was on a trapdoor!" I said. "Which means that it's guarding something!" Hermione, Sophia and I stood up.

"I hope you two are happy," she said. "We could have been killed - or worse, expelled." And she stormed up to bed, Sophia and I following.

"You need to get your priorities straight, Hermione," Sophia said disbelievingly as I fell onto my bed.

"Well, excuse me for being angry!"

"You do know that they didn't exactly force you to go with them, right?" Hermione shot Sophia a nasty look and she turned over and went to sleep.

"What? What'd I say?" Sophia looked so bewildered that I couldn't help but snort before getting into bed but my mind was whirling. The dog was clearly there to guard something but Hagrid had said that Gringotts was the safest place to hide something, except for Hogwarts - and Gringotts had been broken into, the thief after the thing in the very vault we'd emptied. Well, I was sure I knew where that little package was now.

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**Eh…I'm starting to have second thoughts about the Harry/Hermione relationship…I need to find a place to insert it, along with the whole Krum thing…ElAmorNuncaMuere-LoveNeverDies (haha, I know your name off by heart!), I'll PM you, since I don't want to make this A/N long.**


	8. Halloween

**A/N: Ugh, I'm so tired - for some unknown reason, I keep waking up at like 5.30 in the morning. It's really starting to depress me -_- Anyway, happy 1****st**** of September, Potterheads! If only I went to Hogwarts, I'd be a fourth year Ravenclaw and Em would be a fourth year Slytherin…le sigh… **

**Also, since I'm sure that Dex is going to win the poll and each user can only vote once, I'll shut it down and have Lex! The poll results are 5 to Dex and 4 to Neville. I have plans for Sophia, so don't you worry your pretty little heads off!**

**secretbear1: Thank you :) Here is your update!**

**12141998: Yeah, that was partly why I gave up on the H/Hr thing…I mean, the best ones turn AU and I'm trying to keep to canon without actually writing word-for-word**

**ElAmorNuncaMuere-LoveNeverDies: Well, it's kind of silly that siblings would never fight, even if they have the upbringing that Harry and Liv have, so yeah :)**

**dream lighting: Oh, he will apologise this chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: Seriously? If I was a famous author, why would I be writing here for no profit?**

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I giggled quietly the next day when I saw the look on Malfoy's face the moment he saw that Harry and Ron were still at school - not that I would admit it. I was still furious at them but Hermione still wasn't talking to them. I ignored Harry in favour of glaring at Ron, as if it was all his fault. Actually, it was in my eyes - he accepted the duel for Harry and encouraged him.

While not speaking to Harry and Ron, I filled in Hermione and Sophia about the package from Gringotts (poor Neville wanted no reminder of that night) and we kept wondering what exactly needed all this protection.

"It has to be very important or dangerous," Hermione frowned. "Or both - why else would they move it from Gringotts, which is supposed to be the safest place to keep stuff?"

Next week, at breakfast, six large owls flew into the hall, carrying a long, thin package. I was wondering who the hell that package was for when they dropped it right in front of my amazed brother, followed by a letter. Looking into his mind, I read:

_DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE._

_It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session._

_Professor M. McGonagall_

"Harry's got a broomstick!" I hissed to Hermione and Sophia, prompting mixed reactions.

"A _broomstick_? No fair!" Sophia moaned.

"I can't believe that they're rewarding him for breaking the rules!" Hermione fumed. "He disobeys Madam Hooch and gets a spot on the Quidditch team and now they're buying him a broom? That's favouritism!"

"You're telling me," I muttered, watching Harry and Ron sprint out of the Great Hall. I wasn't jealous of the broom - I was annoyed that Harry could get away with breaking the rules.

"Come on!" Hermione stood up and left the Great Hall, Sophia and I following while exchanging looks.

"Going somewhere, Soph-bear?" I heard a voice grin (yeah, grin) and Sophia and I whirled to see a grinning Dex.

"Dex! Don't call me that!" Sophia tried to hit Dex but he dodged, grinning wider than ever.

"What's up with Miss Cranky-pants?" Dex nodded at Hermione, who was stomping up the stairs towards Harry and Ron, who had left a fuming Malfoy in their wake. As we hurried to catch up to Hermione, Sophia filled Dex in on everything that had happened.

"Weren't you not speaking to us?" Harry said and I bristled - how could he be so rude?

"Yes, please continue, it's doing us a world of good," Ron added and Hermione stormed past him.

"I see that little talk didn't get through your thick head, Harry," I growled at him, pushing past the boys and accidentally-on-purpose slamming into Ron.

"What does your brother see in Ron Weasley?" Dex said as we stopped outside the Transfiguration classroom.

"I don't know," I sighed. "Anyway, don't you have a lesson you should be getting to?"

"Well, I know when I'm not wanted," Dex said with a dramatic sigh.

"No you don't or you'd have been gone years ago," Sophia muttered, grinning. Dex gave her a mock-hurt look and pretended to stalk off.

By lunch, I was sick of Harry - his thoughts either consisted of his broomstick or the sensation of flying, making me want to bang my head into the table.

A few weeks later, while working on some Potions homework with Hermione, Neville and Sophia, I was struck with a sudden thought.

"It's been two months already!" I said, making Hermione, Neville and Sophia shoot me weird looks.

"Uh, what?" Sophia said.

"We've been here for two months!"

"And?"

"I didn't even notice the time fly!"

"Now that you think about it," Hermione frowned, "you're right, Liv! Time's gone by so fast! And the lessons are becoming so interesting now that we're not on the basics anymore!"

"Speak for yourself," Neville muttered. "Liv, Hermione - help?" I leaned forward and started to help Neville with his Potions essay, explaining things to him and pointing things out.

On Halloween, the divine smell of baking pumpkin woke everyone up and people hastened to get into the corridors so that they could smell it.

Even better than that, if it was possible, was Charms today; Professor Flitwick said that he thought us ready to try and make things fly, which had been our biggest dream since he'd levitated Trevor through the room like a plane. Professor Flitwick paired us all up to practice the charm - I was partnered with Lavender Brown, who was a bit girly for my taste. Sophia and Neville were paired up, as were Harry and Seamus. However, Ron and Hermione managed to land themselves with each other and I couldn't tell who hated it more.

"Don't forget the swish and flick movement we've been practicing!" Professor Flitwick said. "Swish your wrist and flick! And pronouncing the words correctly is also very important - some spells, when said incorrectly, can have disastrous effects!"

It was quite easy for me; I was already smart and, being as good at Charms as I was, managed it on my first go and levitated my feather a few inches.

"Well done, Miss Potter, five points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick beamed. He moved on to another pair but not before I caught him mutter, "Excellent at Charms, just like her mother!"

_So Mum was good at Charms? _I thought, feeling a fountain of pride well up in me. _Oh yeah, Ollivander did mention that her wand was good with charms! So, if Dad's wand is anything to go by, he would've been excellent at Transfiguration…hmm, well he'd definitely be proud of Soph._

"How do you do that?" Lavender whined.

"Simple," I replied and explained. She stared at me for a second before muttering, "Little know-it-all," and turning to Parvati Patil. I was stung; how dare she? Maybe if she actually picked up a book, she wouldn't have to ask me for help!

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" I heard Ron shout and, turning to look behind me, saw that he was waving his arms around.

"Stop! You'll take someone's eye out!" Hermione cried. "Anyway, you're saying it wrong! It's Levi-_o _-sa, not Levio-sar!"

"Fine, if you're so smart, then you do it," Ron growled. As Hermione raised her wand, I gave her an encouraging smile and she smiled back before swishing and flicking her wand and saying the incantation. The feather rose up a few inches, like mine had.

"Excellent work, Miss Granger, take five points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick cheered.

"Nice work, Mione," I smiled and she gave me a questioning look at the nickname before returning my smile again. Ron's face was stormier than a storm cloud and I suddenly heard an explosion from my brother's table, where Seamus had somehow blown up their feather.

"I think we'll need another feather, Professor," Harry said quietly.

"How do you do that, Liv?" Hermione asked at the end of class.

"The Levitation Charm? You did it on your first go too!" I said, perplexed.

"You're kidding, right?" Sophia said. "Even Neville and I could see that yours was better than hers - you have a natural flair for Charms!"

"Just like Hermione's best at everything else," I muttered but I was pleased.

"Well, it's like you said, isn't it, Liv?" Neville said. "We all have our best subjects."

"Yeah, you outshine us in Herbology any day!" Sophia said and Neville flushed pink with pride. "Anyway, Neville and I'll meet you at our next class, ok? We'll save you two seats."

"You'd better!" I called and as they disappeared, Hermione and I overheard a conversation between Harry and Ron.

"They're nightmares, Hermione and Olivia!" Ron was saying. "It makes sense that they'd hang out - who'd want to be friends with them? Well, besides up-herself Sophia and nervous-breakdown-Neville, of course. And they wonder why no one can stand them!" I was frozen on the spot; I couldn't believe he said all those things about me and Hermione! Not sticking around to see whether Harry tried to defend me, I sniffed and pushed past them, Hermione close behind. We headed for a girls' bathroom and once we were in, we sat down and started bawling.

"What h-have we done wr-wrong?" Hermione sobbed. "I-I j-just tried to h-help Ron!"

"He's just j-j-jealous," I sniffed, wiping my eyes. "He's not smart l-like us, s-so he's j-jealous and h-hates us." We just sat there, huddled together, crying until we had no tears left.

"Do you think the others are missing us?" Hermione asked hours later.

"Probably not," I said in that voice that you get after ages of crying. "The only ones who would are Sophia and Neville but they're the only two who like us. Even Harry's turned against me!"

"Well, I can understand why he'd be on Ronald's side," Hermione said and I shot her an incredulous look. "Well…you two've never had any friends before here, have you?" I shook my head. "And you've already made friends and he's got this one friend of his who he doesn't want to lose, even at the expense of teasing. But when Ronald starts on his sister, he's trapped - he doesn't want to turn on you but he doesn't want to lose his only friend."

"How the hell do you know all of that?" I said in amazement and Hermione blushed.

"I read a book on psychology," she admitted. "I wanted to find out why I wasn't liked at school." We just sat in silence for another hour, until I heard a faint noise. I frowned and straightened up.

"Do you hear that?" I said.

"Hear what?"

"That thumping - it sounds like heavy footsteps!"

"You're probably just imagining things, Liv…" But then, the rhythmic thumping became louder.

"Strike that - I hear it!"

"What do you think it is, Hermione?" Hermione just shrugged.

"Well, whatever it is, it seems to be coming this way!" I got a bad feeling in my gut and I stood up, wand out. Hermione followed suit, just as the thumping sounded really close to us.

"Look!" Hermione whispered, pointing at the door. There was a gigantic silhouette in it and as it moved forwards into the light, I got a look at it; it was a giant beast with dull grey, granite-like skin with a small head, resembling a large coconut. Its arms were so long that it trailed its club on the ground.

"A t-t-troll!" Hermione stuttered quietly. The troll advanced into the bathroom and Hermione and I backed away, clutching at each other in terror.

"We have to make a run for it!" I said hoarsely but just as we were ready to bolt, the door slammed shut and a key turned in the lock!

"No!" I groaned. The troll raised its club and Hermione and I did the only thing we could; we screamed. As we backed against the wall, the door flew open and Harry, Ron and Sophia flew into the room, just as the troll knocked half the sinks off the wall.

"Confuse it!" Harry cried and threw a tap against the wall. Just as the troll was nearly on top of us, it stopped, caught sight of Harry and advanced on him.

"Oi, coconut-head!" Sophia called and threw a pipe at it. The pipe seemed to have no effect but the troll heard her shout and turned towards her, giving Harry the opportunity he needed to reach me and Hermione.

"Come on, you two, we have to get out of here!" He tried to pull us in the direction of the door but we couldn't move - we were still in shock.

The troll was going berserk with all the noise and it turned to Ron, who was closest to it, and started towards him - Ron had no way to escape.

Harry then did the bravest and stupidest thing I've ever heard of; he ran at the troll, jumped onto its back and clung to its neck, just like he did to Uncle Vernon when trying to get our letters. The troll didn't even look like it noticed him but I'd think that even a troll would notice a piece of wood being stuck up its nose because that's exactly what Harry did; he stuck his wand up its nose.

The troll writhed around, roaring with pain, its club swinging around and occasionally just missing Harry, who was holding on for dear life. From what I could see, he was either going to go flying soon or the club would crush his head in. While all of this was going on, Hermione and I had sunk down to the floor, quivering in fright.

"Do something, Ronald!" Sophia screeched as the troll crashed into her, making her lose her grip on her wand. Ron pulled out his wand and cried, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

"Terrific, do the one spell you can't do!" Sophia snarled, rolling out of the way of the troll's legs. But she was wrong; the troll lost its grip on the club as it flew up into the air, before dropping down and colliding with the troll's head with a crack. The troll swayed before falling backward, making Sophia have to grab her wand and scramble out of the way to avoid getting squashed.

Harry stood up, shaking, while Ron just stared at the troll, his wand still raised, and Sophia was breathing heavily, her blue eyes wide.

"Is it dead?" I said in a small voice.

"No, I'm sure it's just unconscious," Harry said. We stared at each other for a moment, before he crossed over to me and pulled me up.

"I'm sorry, Liv, you were right."

"I'm sorry too, Harry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"No, you should have - I was furious with Ron after you two ran off." Ron nodded sheepishly.

"Well, this is all nice and pretty but can we, you know, get out of here before people see us and start asking questions?" Sophia said loudly, leaning against the wall. Harry nodded and returned to the troll to pull out his wand, which was covered in lumpy grey stuff that made me want to hurl.

"Eww, troll boogers!" Sophia wrinkled her nose as Harry cleaned his wand on the troll's pants. The five of us looked up sharply when we heard a door slam and footsteps.

_Great…we were being rather loud, weren't we? _I thought despairingly.

_Yup_, Harry replied. Just then, three teachers burst into the bathroom: Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell. When Professor Quirrell caught sight of the troll, he gasped and sank down to the floor. I narrowed my eyes at him.

_Coward, _I thought. _Some Defence professor you are - you don't see Professors McGonagall and Snape whimpering in fear, do you?_

While Professor Snape examined the troll, Professor McGonagall looked at Harry, Ron and Sophia with the most anger I'd ever seen her exhibit.

"What were you three thinking of?" she said coldly, her voice shaking with rage. "You are so lucky that you weren't killed! Why aren't you up in Gryffindor Tower with the others?" Professor Snape gave Harry a look but he didn't appear to have seen me yet - I knew that he's probably be disappointed.

"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were trying to save me and Olivia." Hermione spoke for the first time and had managed to stand up.

"Miss Granger! Miss Potter!"

"Yes, we've read lots of books and thought that we could deal with it alone, so we went looking for it," I said in a small voice, knowing that if I didn't back Hermione up, we could get in trouble for lying. Ron dropped his wand and Sophia's eyes bulged.

"If Harry, Ron and Sophia hadn't found us, we'd be dead," Hermione continued. "Harry stuck his wand up its nose, Sophia distracted it and Ron used the Levitation Charm to knock it out with its own club. They didn't have time to find a teacher - it was about to kill me and Olivia when they arrived."

Harry, Ron and Sophia tried to rearrange their faces to look like we were actually telling the truth but when I looked at Professor Snape, he didn't look disappointed; if anything, he gave me a look that made me feel like he knew we were lying. I didn't know what to think then.

"Well, if that's the case…" Professor McGonagall, didn't look like she believed us either but since that was what we'd said, I knew she'd have to deal with us. "Miss Potter, Miss Granger, you are both very foolish! How on earth did you two think that you could deal with a mountain troll alone?" Hermione and I looked down in shame.

"I will be taking ten points from Gryffindor, you two. I am very disappointed. If you're both uninjured, you had better return to Gryffindor Tower - the feast is continuing in students' houses." Hermione and I left the bathroom.

"It could have been worse," Hermione said as we walked down the corridor. "She could have given us detention." I was just about to respond when I heard a voice call, "Miss Potter." Turning, I saw that it was Professor Snape.

"Return to your common room, Miss Granger," he said. "I wish to speak to Miss Potter alone - follow me, Miss Potter." Nodding, Hermione whirled and ran off to Gryffindor Tower as I followed Professor Snape down to the dungeons and to his office, where he instructed me to sit down.

"What really happened, Miss Potter?" Yep, he knew Hermione and I were lying.

"What we told Professor McGonagall, sir." Professor Snape gave me a piercing look.

"I don't believe you - you are very much like your mother and I doubt that she would have gone looking for a troll to take down." I looked down. "I have seen how Weasley treats you and Miss Granger - is he the reason you were in there?" I nodded - he seemed to know when I lied, so there really was no point in trying to deceive him.

"Tell me exactly what has been happening, Miss Potter." And so I told him everything, and it felt good to get everything off my chest - I just didn't know why Professor Snape was the one listening to me.

"But please don't punish them," I said. "I know that Harry's sorry and Ron's probably learnt his lesson by now."

"Very well…but if he does not back off, I will be forced to take action." I looked at him in confusion.

"Sir…why are you helping me? I'm a Gryffindor and you're Head of Slytherin."

"I will not tolerate bullying," was Professor Snape's answer and I knew that I wouldn't get any more out of him. "Now, I think you had better get back to Gryffindor Tower - no doubt Miss Granger is waiting for you." I nodded, rose and crossed to the door.

"Professor?" He looked at me. "Thanks for listening." Had I not turned around and left at that moment, I would have been staring disbelievingly at his face.

When I arrived at the common room, I saw Harry, Ron, Sophia and Hermione standing around awkwardly.

"Thanks," all five of us said at once and then Hermione, Sophia and I ducked away to get some food and find Neville. But from then on, Ron became our friend - I guess knocking out a giant mountain troll tends to do that to people.

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**Ok, so I've worked out a possible love interest for Harry, since Em and I don't like Harry/Ginny, unless the author actually makes an effort to include Ginny and develop her and whatnot. So, ElAmorNuncaMuere-LoveNeverDies and I have been plotting together (mwahahahahaha!) and we've come up with an OC. All I'll tell you for now is that she'll appear next story in The Whomping Willow, so look out for her - you should know her when you see her!**

**And also, regarding the fact that people have to actually be able to spend time together for crushes and all that, I've gone back and edited the previous chapters to put Dex in Gryffindor - he'll still be a year older, but in Ravenclaw they can't really spend time together except for in broom closets, can they? And if they did that, I'd think that Harry would skin Dex alive.**


	9. Quidditch

**A/N: Ugh, I'm so pathetic, aren't I? 'You'll only get updates like once a week!' and then here I am, taking a month or so to update. Well, in my defence, I can't stand PS. I mean, I've got so many unfinished stories on my laptop that I've jotted down when I get inspiration and obviously that, combined with my love of 'Reading the Books' stories, has made me pretty sick of PS. **

**And my Internet broke. Seriously, it did. But my next door neighbour has kindly agreed to let me and Em use her computer. We should get a Wi-Fi soon.**

**Thank you to all who reviewed…from now on, I won't respond to individual reviews unless they have a question or something I need to address. Takes up too much space and I don't think anyone even reads these A/Ns XD**

**Disclaimer: I own the photo of me and Maxi (from Bondi Rescue - he's my fave lifeguard!) taken years ago but not Harry Potter.**

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September had been fairly warm; October, not so much. But November was absolutely freezing! Short of freezing completely, the lake turned a chilly grey colour and every morning, the grass was white with frost. If you were on a high enough floor, you could even see Hagrid defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch.

This Saturday, Harry would play in the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match; his first ever game. Though Quidditch didn't particularly excite me, I was hoping that Gryffindor won because we'd shoot up into second place in the house championship, behind Slytherin.

Since everyone knew that Harry was playing (Dex told me that there were no secrets at Hogwarts), my poor brother had had to put up with people telling him that he'd be brilliant - which would make him feel even worse if Gryffindor lost - or people, mainly Slytherins, telling him that they'd have a mattress handy.

If Harry hadn't been friends with me and Hermione, he'd never have gotten his homework done in time and I don't think the excuse, "I was kept out practicing Quidditch!" would cut it. Then again, Fred and George did tell me that Wood was a Quidditch fanatic - the excuse might have worked with any teacher other than Professor Snape.

The only book my brother ever dared to open and read was _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and he kept spewing out random facts: there were seven hundred ways of committing a foul and all of them had gone into play in the match of 1473, for one. My eyes glazed over after that and I made a mechanical excuse of homework to get away, much to Sophia's amusement.

Hermione and I had relaxed our 'must-follow-rules' (insert zombie eyes and drool) routine and I had even started to like Ron, though he still got on my nerves sometimes. The day before the Quidditch match, I had created a bit of bright blue fire that Hermione stored in a jar she'd found and we were using it to warm up in the courtyard when Professor Snape limped our way - his limping made me frown thoughtfully. Knowing that our fire was against the rule, the five of us blocked it but Professor Snape must have caught sight of our guilty faces.

"What have you got there, Potter?" Harry showed him _Quidditch Through the Ages_.

"Library books are forbidden from being taken outside school - five points from Gryffindor. Now give it to me." Once he had the book, he looked at me. "Five points to Gryffindor for excellent spellwork, Miss Potter."

"What the hell was that about?" Sophia said. "He - he _likes _you!"

"Yeah, I'm reeling," I muttered - I didn't like the way that Professor Snape picked on my brother but at the same time, I felt a small worm of pleasure that he liked me enough to overlook the 'no-magic-in-corridors' rule and even award me some points.

"Well, he just made that book rule up!" Harry said angrily. "What's up with his leg?"

"Dunno but I hope the pain's killing him," Ron said.

"RON!" Hermione and I shouted.

That evening, the common room was its usual loudness (actually, if it was quiet, I'd be worried) and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sophia, Neville (who had wanted help with his homework) and I sat together in a semi-quiet spot near the window, doing our homework. I was looking over Harry and Ron's Charms homework, since Charms was my speciality, and I made small corrections here and there - Hermione and I never let the boys and Sophia copy, though they got the right answers by asking us to read it through.

"Sophia, can you look over my Transfiguration essay?" Harry asked but the black-haired girl was scribbling away furiously.

"Busy," was her reply, so Ron leaned over.

"Blimey, that's too much!" he exclaimed.

"And your point is? I just want to get a good grade in Transfiguration."

"Leave her be," I said when Ron opened his mouth again. "Here's your essay. Neville, let me look over yours." As I slid it back to Ron and accepted Neville's parchment, I noticed Harry fidgeting.

_What's wrong, Harry?_

_I want my book back! Without it, I'm panicking over tomorrow!_

_Why don't you go and ask Professor Snape for it back?_

_But he hates me! Can't you come?_

_Nope, I have homework._

_What happened to sticking together? _I refused to grace that with a response (it would have been very cruel to remind him of the past two or so months), so Harry sighed, stood up and announced that he was going to get his book back.

"Better you than me," Ron, Hermione, Neville and Sophia replied, so Harry left.

"And what might all of you be doing?" Dex grinned, sliding into Harry's vacated seat. He then caught sight of Sophia and gasped.

"My Sophia is doing _homework_?" he exclaimed dramatically, making me burst out laughing and Sophia mock-glare at him.

"Sod off," she grumbled. "So I want to get a good grade in Transfiguration - who cares?"

"The point is that you much preferred sport to schoolwork at primary school," Dex said in a pretend-serious voice. "Did you corrupt her, O Evil Olivia?"

I borrowed Sophia's line.

"Sod off." I then turned to Sophia. "I thought you said he was a bookworm!"

"Doesn't mean he's not annoying," Sophia muttered and put her quill down to stretch her hand. I suddenly noticed Harry enter the common room and he looked out of breath.

"Did you get your book?" I asked as he pulled a spare chair up to our group. He shook his head and began to explain what he'd seen - how he'd peeked into the staff room and seen Snape and Filch, alone, with Snape holding up his robes and Filch on his knees, bandaging a bleeding wound.

"That means he was trying to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween!" Harry concluded.

"Excuse me? A three-headed dog? I'm feeling a little left out here…" Dex said.

"We made acquaintances with a giant three-headed dog that tried to use us as chew toys," Sophia said dryly, reading over Ron's Transfiguration essay. Dex looked like he was going to faint - not that I could blame him.

"But remember?" Harry said. "Ron, Sophia - we saw Snape going to the third floor when we were going to the bathroom! That means that he wants whatever it's guarding!" Dex and Neville looked a little lost so I filled them in on our suspicions (not that I thought that Professor Snape had anything to do with it).

"Well, you can't say you're not observant," Dex muttered as Neville looked terrified at the thought of going anywhere near that dog again.

"Well, I'd bet my Nimbus Two Thousand that he was the one who let the troll on to create a distraction and make sure that he could get the package unseen!" Harry added.

"No, I know he's not a very nice teacher but he'd never steal something of Dumbledore's!" Hermione protested, wide-eyed.

"Hermione, you think that all the teachers are gods," Sophia muttered. "I'm actually with Harry - I wouldn't put it past Snape to try something like that."

"But what _is _that package?" Dex said thoughtfully. "And if you needed a three-headed dog to guard it, why keep it in a school? I mean, if a group of first-years can get into the corridor, it's not a very good locking spell, is it?"

"Good point," I nodded. "You ok, Neville?" Neville, who had not been listening to our conversation after the mention of the dog, nodded.

"Please don't tell me you're going back there," he said quietly and I gave him an incredulous look.

"Do I look like Harry?" I said, making him snort weakly.

The next morning, while I tucked into a rasher of bacon, a few eggs and a slice of toast, Harry just sat next to me, picking at his food.

"Come on, Harry, you have to eat something!" Hermione said.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"At least a little bit of toast," I urged.

"I don't want anything to eat."

"Harry, you need strength!" Seamus said. "Seekers get clobbered the most out there!"

"Thanks a lot, just make my brother even more nervous, why don't you?" I said dryly and Seamus realised his mistake instantly.

At eleven o'clock, everyone was packed in the stands at the Quidditch pitch and loads of them had binoculars - I saw that even high up in the stands, it was hard to see exactly what was going on, since the higher up you were, the further back from the pitch you were.

Ron, Hermione, Dex, Neville and I squeezed into seats in the top row with Seamus and Dean - as a little surprise for my brother, we'd taken a sheet that Scabbers had chewed through and painted a giant banner, which read POTTER FOR PRESIDENT. Hermione and I had charmed the paint to flash in different colours and Dean turned out to be an excellent artist and had drawn a huge Gryffindor lion under the words - I then sought out Percy and asked him to charm it to move.

The crowd suddenly started cheering loudly and I saw the two teams walk out onto the Quidditch pitch, mount their brooms and kick off a few moments later.

"And Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor takes the Quaffle…what a brilliant Chaser and a very attractive girl too…"

"JORDAN!" Sniggering, I looked up at the teachers' box, where Lee Jordan was doing the commentary, closely watched by Professor McGonagall. I didn't care about the commentary though; I only had eyes for my brother, who was circling around above the other players.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

As the Gryffindor supporters cheered and the Slytherin supporters booed, I heard a commotion and turned to see Hagrid trying to squeeze in with Ron and Hermione.

"Hagrid!" I said happily. "What're you doing here?"

"I was watchin' from me hut but it's not the same as bein' out here," Hagrid replied, raising his binoculars to his eyes. "Harry done anythin' yet?"

"Nope," Sophia said. "He's just being doing nothing."

"At least he's kept outta trouble," Hagrid muttered and I wholeheartedly agreed.

"Oh no, the Bludger's going to get him!" I screeched as a Bludger pelted towards my brother but one of the Weasley twins hit it towards a large boy, Marcus Flint I think Lee called him - he looked like he could be part-troll.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee said and I tuned out to watch, until I heard, "Hold on, was that the Snitch just then?" People around me started murmuring as I stared at Harry dive, along with the Slytherin Seeker, when suddenly -

WHAM.

"FOUL!" the Gryffindor supporters roared, as did I; Flint had just crashed into Harry and sent him off course. Madam Hooch gave Flint a stern lecture and awarded a penalty to Gryffindor but in all the confusion, the Snitch had vanished.

"Dammit," I muttered and then shook my head. "Olivia, you're turning into a Quidditch nut!"

"Are you ok?" Dex said to me. "You're talking to yourself…"

"I think Harry's corrupted me," I groaned and left it at that.

"Red card, ref! Red card!" Dean shouted.

"What's a red card?" Ron asked.

"If you get shown a red card in football, you're out of the game!" Sophia replied, shaking her fist furiously at the pitch.

"I'm with Dean," Hagrid said. "Harry was lucky Flint didn' knock him outta the air."

Lee was obviously finding it extremely difficult not to be biased.

"So after that - disgusting piece of cheating -"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall warned.

"I mean, after that - obviously dirty foul…"

"Jordan, so help me…"

"Ok! Potter is nearly killed by Flint, which I'm sure could happen to anyone, and Gryffindor get another penalty, taken by Spinnet who scores, no problem, and play continues, Gryffindor still has possession."

Just as I was beginning to relax and think that Harry would be fine and we'd finally catch a break, I was proved wrong. Harry dodged a Bludger and then his broom lurched, as did my stomach. It then started bucking and swerving around, trying to throw my brother off.

Lee was still commentating and I was furious; how could no one else notice that my brother was wrestling with death?

"Look at Harry!" I screeched to Hagrid, who turned his binoculars to the jerking figure.

"Dunno what's goin' on," Hagrid muttered to me. "I'd say he's lost control of the broom but that's not possible…"

Finally, people noticed Harry and started to point up at him - he had started rolling and then the broom jerked one last time and he was hanging on by one hand.

"NO!" I screamed and I grabbed the person closest to me - who happened to be Dex - and started squeezing the life out of him. Not that he seemed to mind; he was too busy looking at Harry in horror, like the rest of us were.

"Did Flint do something to it?" Sophia asked.

"Nope, can't have," Hagrid answered in a shaky voice. "Nothin' can mess with a broom like that except Dark Magic - no kid would be able ter do that…"

At that, Hermione grabbed Hagrid's binoculars before I could and started scanning the crowd.

"Oh, I knew it! Look at Snape!" she moaned. "He's - I think he's jinxing the broom!"

"He'd never do that!" I said but I was ignored.

"What do we do?" Sophia's lips barely moved.

"I'll handle it," Hermione replied and shoved the binoculars at me before disappearing. I didn't want to watch Harry or his furiously twisting broom, so I turned the binoculars back to the staff stand. Sure enough, I saw Professor Snape mouthing something, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Harry, and my stomach plummeted. So he _was _jinxing Harry! But why?

That was when my grip on the binoculars slipped a little and when I managed to get a grip and look through them again, I noticed that Professor Quirrell was mirroring Professor Snape's actions, a strange look on his face.

_What? So if one's jinxing…what's the other doing?_

_Liv, what are you on about?_

_Shut up and hold on!_

"Oh, come on, Hermione!" Ron begged quietly. I followed Hermione's progress through the stands and saw her knock Professor Quirrell headfirst into a row below.

"Hey, I think it's easing up!" Dex said and looking back at Harry, I saw that Dex was right; the broom was still flailing around but Harry was finding it a little easier to try and grab hold.

"What do you mean? It's still trying to kill him!" Sophia shrieked. I turned the binoculars back to Hermione in time to see a bright blue light on Professor Snape's robes. As Hermione crept back to us and Professor Snape stood up and started stomping around, I realised that she had lit him on fire and felt a maniacal urge to laugh. I pushed it down, though; Professor Snape had an uncanny knack of finding things out and I didn't want him to know that I'd considered laughing.

"He's back on!" Seamus said and I gave the binoculars back to Hermione, who had just returned, and watched Harry climb back onto his broom and speed towards the ground.

"Neville, he's ok!" Sophia said to the boy, who had been crying into Hagrid's jacket.

"He looks like he's gonna be sick!" Hagrid said and I noticed him clap a hand over his mouth when he touched down and cough something into his hand.

"I caught the Snitch!" he shouted and waved something golden in his hand around. The score was one hundred and seventy to one hundred and sixty - Gryffindor had won.

To get Harry away from the enormous crowd, Ron, Hermione, Sophia, Dex and I took Harry back to Hagrid's hut for a cup of tea.

"It was definitely Snape," Ron said. I felt like correcting him but I knew he'd never listen when it came to Professor Snape. "We all saw him - he was muttering something under his breath and he wouldn't look away from you."

"So was Quirrell," I muttered to myself - why did people never think of the person least likely to do something?

"That's rubbish," Hagrid said - he clearly hadn't heard our exchange in the stands. "Why would Snape do somethin' like cursin' a broom?" We all looked at each other.

"Hagrid, we found something out," Harry confessed. "He tried to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween - we're sure he was after whatever it's guarding."

"How do yeh know about Fluffy?" Hagrid said, dropping the teapot he was holding.

"_Fluffy_?" Dex said in astonishment.

"Yeah, I own him - some Greek guy sold him ter me in the pub and I let Dumbledore borrow him ter guard the - no, I can't tell yeh anymore. That's top-secret." We looked quite disappointed.

"But Snape wants to steal it!" Harry said. I mentally smashed my head against a table, prompting him to stare at me.

"Snape's a teacher, he'd not do anythin' like that!"

"So why did he just attempt to murder Harry?" Hermione said - today had definitely changed her mind, though not in the way I was hoping. "Hagrid, you have to keep eye contact for a jinx and Snape never blinked!"

"Counter-curses do too," Dex put in helpfully but no one paid him any mind.

"No one ever listens," I muttered and Dex snorted.

"You don't think it was Snape?" he asked quietly. I shook my head.

"I noticed Quirrell doing the same thing and he had this weird look on his face," I replied. Dex frowned thoughtfully.

"…you forget about that dog an' what it's guardin', that's between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!" Hagrid was saying as we tuned back in.

"Who's Nicolas Flamel and what does he have to do with what Fluffy's guarding?" I asked innocently. Hagrid looked absolutely furious with himself.

* * *

**I have a question. If you guys were to write a story and kept Lily and James alive, how would you do so? Em and I are just curious, because we only really know one plausible way; all those other stories have Voldemort stunning Lily and James and Harry being all-powerful and shielding from it - I mean, come on! So, review and tell us your ideas!**


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